Cedar Falls Code Enforcement
Winter Operations
For just over a year the City of Cedar Falls has employed a full time code enforcement officer, Greg Rekward, to ensure maintenance and code compliance throughout the city. Greg started in April of 2019, and he has been diligently working to keep nuisances within the city to a minimum. The city engages a two part approach; our goal is to not only be reactive but also proactive.
The Farmers’ Almanac has dubbed the upcoming season the “Winter of Great Divide” with the forecast: “Cold and snowy in the north. Drought in the west. And everything crazy in between!” What does that mean for Cedar Falls? Only time will tell. Regardless, residents can be assured the City of Cedar Falls snow and ice control team has been preparing since late summer and will be ready for whatever Mother Nature brings.
Reactive: Greg receives calls, emails, and online notifications on a daily basis from concerned citizens typically regarding: issues citizens see throughout their day such as grass exceeding 8", houses not well maintained and/or with safety issues, loud parties, trash and furniture left on the curb, snow covered sidewalks, dead trees, and more. Greg’s approach to these issues is to listen to the citizen, investigate the concern, and then respond. If compliance issues are found the problem is addressed. He starts by notifying the property owner and providing time to remedy the situation. For example, if the issue is grass over 8", the property owner has seven days to mow the lawn or the city will have it done on the eighth day. If it is a more involved issue, such as home maintenance, the property owner is normally given two weeks to provide the city with a plan to correct the issue before any further enforcement takes place. We appreciate citizens communicating their concerns; we work as quickly as we can to have a positive outcome for all parties involved. Proactive: When Greg is not handling citizen concerns he is slowly canvasing the city looking for maintenance or nuisance issues; for this purpose the city is divided into 10 zones. Greg throughly walks each zone and works with citizens in each area to address issues. The goal of inspecting each zone is to get ahead of problems before there are complaints, as well as to ensure quality neighborhoods and encourage people to be good neighbors. This proactive approach is more about working with the community to make it better, rather than enforcement. Greg prefers to work with property owners directly instead of automatically sending a notification. For example, if he comes across a home with a couch on the porch, he knocks on the door first to speak with the tenant or owner. If they are not home he leaves a door hanger asking them to call.
The Operations and Maintenance Division is responsible for snow and ice control for over 264 miles of city streets. Other areas of snow and ice control include city owned parking lots, public property sidewalks, and select recreation trails. All these areas are maintained in a timely manner with properly trained staff and modern technology/equipment. The city currently utilizes 21 trucks equipped with plows and speed sensing material application equipment. Several of these trucks are equipped with a side-mounted wing plow to enhance efficiency. There are also several specialty pieces of equipment used to enhance operations. A vehicle telematics system is utilized to allow supervisory staff to monitor in real time where trucks are located on route, and the amount of material being applied throughout the city. This is important for ensuring all roads are serviced during the event, and the stored data can be analyzed post event to enhance future operations. The Public Works Department strives to ensure staff are properly trained and equipped to ensure city streets are safely maintained throughout the winter months. For questions on this topic, or other Public Works related programs, please feel free to call (319) 273-8629.
Nuisance codes for the City of Cedar Falls are found in Chapter 15 of the city ordinance at www.library.municode.com/ia/cedar_falls/codes/code_ of_ordinances. If you would like to report a concern to Greg Rekward, call him at (319) 268-5186 or email greg.rekward@cedarfalls.com. You may use the “Request Tracker” on the city website under “I Want To…” and the “Submit a Request” link or by going directly to www.cedarfalls.com/requesttracker.aspx.
Sidewalk Snow Removal Reminder Parking Implementation Resumes The Joint Parking Technical Committee resumed discussions in August. The Joint Committee—consisting of city staff, Community Main Street, College Hill Partnership, and University of Northern Iowa representatives—discussion and consensus was to move forward with implementing paid parking lots tentatively beginning on October 1. This will be the final piece of implementation of the parking study recommendations.
As we head into winter, please remember the city ordinances associated with sidewalk snow removal… To provide a safe walking surface for pedestrians, property owners are responsible for clearing snow and ice on the public sidewalk abutting their property; the city ordinance states this must be done “within a reasonable amount of time.” Sidewalk snow removal usually coincides with the 48-hour parking enforcement. If an owner fails to do so in a reasonable time, they will receive one notice per season to clear the snow. If it is not cleared after the notice, or after any other snowfall, the city may have the snow or ice removed without notice to the property owner if they were previously warned. The cost of removal is billed to the property owner. You can read the entire ordinance at www.cedarfalls.com/snowremoval. Fall 2020
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