Reading’s property maintenance department is short up to 10 maintenance and quality-of-life inspectors, and some City Council members say lack of adequate staff makes timely follow-up on complaints difficult.
Councilman Christopher Daubert said he often receives complaints from residents who say they used the city’s iRequest mobile app to report quality-of-life violations, such as trash or uncut weeds and grass, but have not received a response.
“They’ll finally file a complaint on iRequest, and then no one will come out for three weeks,” Daubert told council last week.
Jamal Abodalo, who oversees the department, disagreed.
Abodalo, city director of community development, reported to council last week on the department’s activities.
“We try to jump on this immediately,” he said. “In fact, we do not delay this, and in fact, there is a follow-up system that we have.”
Most complaints come through the city clerk’s office and customer service center, not the app, Abodalo noted.
“There must be a disconnect then somewhere in terms of when it’s being entered,” Daubert said.
When a complaint is filed on iRequest, he said, the complainant receives an update when the situation is addressed.
“The documents that I’ve been sent — I have copies somewhere — they show three weeks in between,” Daubert said.
By the time an inspector arrives, he said, the violation often will have been remedied, and the complaint is listed as unfounded.
Such occurrences leave some residents reluctant to report violations, Daubert said.
“They don’t want to do that too often because they don’t want to be like the boy who cried wolf,” he said, referring to the cautionary tale of false warnings in Aesop’s Fables.
Councilwoman Marcia Goodman-Hinnershitz said it is not realistic to expect to keep up with the workload with the department down seven to 10 people.
“That’s just a reality,” she said, noting to suggest otherwise would be dishonest to the public.
After investigating the complaint, Abodalo said, inspectors will issue a citation, if warranted. Violators are given a period of time to correct the violations. Failure to make the appropriate correction can result in a second and third citation, he said.
If the property owner still fails to abate the violation, Abodalo said, the city will step in and clear the trash or cut the weeds at the violator’s expense.
Violators can be fined for each offense plus any direct and indirect costs incurred by the city for the cleanup and abatement of the violation.
When a property owner refuses to comply, the case can be taken to the district court.
Of the 4,800 inspections completed in 2022, most were related to high grass and property maintenance issues, Abodalo said, noting about 800 violations were related to abandoned vehicles and vehicle repairs being done in inappropriate locations.
So far, 630 quality of life tickets have been issued in 2023 in response to 570 complaints, he said.
Recruitment for inspectors is ongoing, Abodalo said, but the positions have proved difficult to fill.
Candidates with a background in construction are preferred.
To apply visit the city’s website.
Source: Berkshire mont