Friday, October 22, 2021

• City Council Meeting October 2021: New Code Enforcement Team

There was a full agenda and the meeting lasted over two and a half hours. Still, the real take away was the newly beefed up code enforcement team. The full video will be available at the bottom of the blog. 

The new insignias as seen on code enforcement officer's uniforms.

For a very long time Wildomar had one code enforcement officer, and he was well known and well liked by most people that encountered him. He had a somewhat laid back approach to the job, but those days are in the history books.

Meet Wildomar's new code enforcement team 

All with many years of service before coming to our small slice of heaven. Please watch the video(s) to get the specifics of where they cut their teeth in law enforcement. They all have pretty impressive pedigrees. 

Code Enforcement Supervisor Raul BerroteranSenior Code Enforcement Officer John Parker, Code Enforcement Administrative Analyst Yvette Magdaleno and Code Enforcement Technician Tina Baggio.

There are links to two videos segments in this blog. The first is the ten minute presentation at the October city council meeting, the second is for facebook users that can be accessed by this link.

Every taxpaying resident of Wildomar should invest the few minutes it takes to watch one, or both, of the videos. This is your town... right? And you should be up to speed on what's happening where you live.

Instead of taking a lot of time breaking down the entire segment, allow me to quote Senior Code Enforcement Officer John Parker from his closing remarks at the city council meeting. 

"Our department wants compliance without enforcement. We want the citizens of Wildomar to work with us because we will work with you."
 
-Senior Wildomar Code Enforcement Officer John Parker

Back to opinion: Since the recession of 2008 a small number of people have stopped caring what their property looks like, and after years of being allowed to slide, think that's the new normal.

The rest of us do not agree, and we are eager to see you "comply without enforcement" but we all know that you'll need some serious prodding before you'll clean up your act (literally).

Along with the new code enforcement team there is a new and much simpler and easy way to report issues that need attention at the Wildomar Code Enforcement page on the city's website.

(for those that don't want to click, below is from the website)

What we do!

 

Consistent with the City’s mission statement of making Wildomar a safe and active community with responsible growth and quality infrastructure while keeping a hometown feel. 


Code Enforcement strives to promote that mission by maintaining a safe and desirable living and working environments for all throughout the city. 


Our goal is to help maintain and improve the quality of our community by administering fair and unbiased enforcement of State laws and local ordinances to correct violations and reduce hazards that create blight and adversely affect the quality of life of our residents.

Do your part to make Wildomar a better place!

You can easily improve the quality of life in your neighborhood, and improve our community and reduce your risk of a code violation by simply eliminating the following common violations:

 

  • Maintain your vehicles in proper operating condition with current registration tags 
  • Do not store junk, trash, or debris in or around your property or vehicles
  • Do not let weeds grow in or around your property or under or around your vehicles 
  • Non-operable vehicles must be fully enclosed on private property and out of public view
  • Before you build or start any construction, always check with City staff for building permit requirements
  • Maintain good relationships with your neighbors and work together to solve problems before conflicts arise


What we don’t do!

 

While code enforcement is dedicated to make Wildomar a better place, please keep in mind there are some things we cannot resolve, such as:

 

  • Violations of Homeowner Association rules or violation of deed Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions 
  • Determine the location of property lines or resolve property line disputes between neighbors
  • Mediate or regulate blocked private views
  • Tree roots/branches encroaching onto your property or that are causing damage to your fence or structure
  • Short-term vacation rental disputes 

I saw the four brand new city vehicles yesterday, they look sharp and if they pull up to your house, better get that broom out and start cleaning up voluntarily. 

I tested out the new and easier way to report issues and for those that were used to the cumbersome way that was previously online, there is a night and day difference with the new way.

No user name and password. You can be anonymous, or you can put your contact info in for updates. You choose.

Your first stop will be this easy to see link.

Step two, describe the issue and attach a photo if you'd like.

As you can see, step two is pretty self explanatory.

Add the location. Exact addresses work best, but if you can't find the address, and you've filled out the description with plenty of detail, the code enforcement officers will find what you're talking about if you get them to the general area.

I have no problem giving my name, but you may not be concerned with follow up. You can choose whether or not you leave your name and contact info. 

Now click the submit button and you're done.

For those that hate this new direction Wildomar is heading in, call me Karen all day if you need to.

I'm proud that I'm among those that still have standards and care what my community looks like, and I'm certain the the vast majority feel the same way, they just don't want to put up with the loudmouthed naysayers that haunt social media comment sections when this topic comes up.

One of dozens of small victories that have occurred since the new team came online. For those that can't quite place where this is, it almost feels like Lake Elsinore, but it's solidly within Wildomar's boundaries. It's on the east side of the freeway, off of Grape Street, about half a mile south of the Railroad Canyon off ramp. 

The video to entire meeting is below or if you can't see the video, use this highlighted link instead.