Moses Lake town hall to discuss code enforcement, beautification

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake residents are being invited to talk about code enforcement, nuisance regulations, city code compliance and community beautification at a town hall at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Moses Lake Civic Center, 401 S. Balsam St. 

“The code enforcement staff will be present (at the town hall),” said Christopher Horton, Moses Lake’s building official and fire marshal, during the June 9 Moses Lake City Council meeting. “They’re going to provide a slide presentation which will essentially cover a day in the life of a code enforcement officer, what we do from day to day.” 

Horton said participants will get a chance to grapple with real-world code enforcement challenges, at least in simulation. 

“We’re going to provide a code enforcement scenario that’s going to be based off one of three things,” he said. “We have junk, junk vehicles and weeds, and a corresponding code that applies to that (violation). The idea is to have a code enforcement officer (with each group), and hopefully a council member, to speak with citizens so that we can present them with these scenarios, get their feedback on how we respond to those scenarios.”  

The goal is to get some ideas from participants that could be used to amend and improve the city’s code enforcement policies, he said. Council members will be discussing the results at the July 14 council meeting. 

The workshop also will include information on the city’s “See, Click, Fix” program. That allows people to report problems with city infrastructure, everything from potholes to noise to street signs. It also includes an option to report code violations. 

Council member David Skaug asked when code enforcement becomes more than code enforcement. Some locations, Skaug said, are not “bright and shiny.” 

Horton said it depends on the level of the violation and the situation. 

“Our code enforcement officers aren’t charged with direct contact with people on the streets,” he said. “(Their focus is) more like weeds, the upheave sidewalks, the junk vehicles, things of that nature.” 

Moses Lake does have homeless individuals, but those locations are not the focus for the code enforcement.  

“If there are occupied homeless camps, law enforcement is notified,” Horton said. 

Moses Lake Police Chief Dave Sands said the two agencies work together.  

“We want to make sure there’s someone there with the authority to step in,” Sands said.  

There is a procedure when it comes to code enforcement, Horton said. People are notified of a violation and have the opportunity to address it before city officials take action.  

“Most of the events that we do are pre-planned,” he said.  

The workshop also will include information on volunteer cleanups, one of which was scheduled for June 13 along Wheeler Road. Another was scheduled following the May 28 windstorm.  

“That is a constant focus area for us, on Wheeler, Pioneer (Way) and Valley Road especially,” Horton said.  

Encouraging volunteers to help with cleanup projects is one of the things city officials want to pursue, he said. 

“The volunteer piece of this, we’re trying to do a lot of outreach to the community to get people to come join us in our efforts,” he said. “We want people to really be involved with the city and have pride and ownership in the city and what it looks like. And we really need their help doing it. A three-person code enforcement team with 27,000 people is challenging.”