Report 2015-134 Recommendations

To ensure that it is aware of the degree of property owners' compliance with its resale record ordinance, Novato should implement procedures that can help it monitor the sale or exchange of properties that require resale record inspections. The city should work with applicable stakeholders, such as realtors, to aid in this effort.

To verify that new property owners are aware of the health and safety concerns at their properties and any corrections they need to make, Novato should develop a process to ensure that it receives homeowners' cards.

To ensure that it can monitor the satisfaction individuals have with the resale record program and that it has a uniform approach for resolving complaints, Novato should develop a process for tracking the complaints it receives. In addition, Novato should develop a formal policy that describes how staff should evaluate complaints, and it should document its activities associated with resolving complaints, such as the resolution and the rationale for the resolution. The city should also establish a designated location in its database to record this information.

Novato should develop formal written procedures for staff to follow up on property owners' correction of violations. These procedures should identify the method in which staff document in the database the violations identified during inspections and their actions to bring the property into compliance. In addition, the procedures should identify where within the database these documents should be kept as well as identify the protocol for ensuring that repeat violations are corrected in a timely manner.

To ensure that property owners correct violations in a timely manner, Novato should develop a work plan by July 2016 to identify and address its enforcement backlog by April 2017, so that the city is up to date with its enforcement actions, such as issuing notice letters and monitoring property owners' actions to resolve violations.

To ensure that property owners correct violations in a timely manner, Novato should follow through with its enforcement policies, such as issuing notice letters.

To ensure that property owners correct violations in a timely manner, Novato should establish a written process for staff to monitor and ensure that property owners correct violations, including accurately identifying the properties that have not obtained necessary permits or have not had required reinspections performed.

To ensure that it conducts its resale record inspections and completes the reports in a timely manner, Novato should establish a process to monitor its ability to meet its established time goals from application date to report issuance, such as developing a reminder report or using an automated feature of its database.

To ensure that it conducts its resale record inspections and completes the reports in a timely manner, Novato should review its time goals by July 2016 and establish an expectation that is significantly shorter than 10 business days for the period from inspection to report issuance and that is commensurate with the effort required to issue the report. Further, it should establish a time goal for the period of application to inspection. If applicable, Novato should update its policies and procedures to reflect the revised time goals.

To ensure that it conducts its resale record inspections and completes the reports in a timely manner, Novato should establish a method to identify those inspections that have inspection dates requested by property owners.

To ensure that the resale record fees it charges is appropriate, Novato should establish a time frame to periodically determine whether the fees are commensurate with the cost of administering the resale record program. The city should ensure that it retains any documentation used to support its analyses and any subsequent adjustments to fees.

To ensure that it can demonstrate that its resale record inspectors are qualified, Novato should develop a process to maintain continuing education attendance records. The city should ensure that staff receive periodic continuing education through internal and external sources to keep them current on code requirements, especially when the requirements are updated.

To ensure that it is aware of the degree of property owners' compliance with its resale record ordinance, Pasadena should implement procedures that can help it monitor the sale or exchange of properties that require resale record inspections. The city should work with applicable stakeholders, such as realtors, to aid in this effort.

To verify that new property owners are aware of the health and safety concerns at their properties and any corrections they need to make, Pasadena should develop a process to ensure that staff sign the inspection certificates and add them to the city's database.

To ensure that it can monitor the satisfaction individuals have with the resale record program and that it has a uniform approach for resolving complaints, Pasadena should develop a formal process for tracking the complaints it receives. In addition, Pasadena should develop a formal policy that describes how staff should evaluate complaints, and it should document its activities associated with resolving complaints, such as the resolution and the rationale for the resolution. The city should also establish a designated location in its database to record this information.

Pasadena should develop formal written procedures for staff to follow up on property owners' correction of violations. These procedures should identify the method in which staff document in the database the violations identified during inspections and their actions to bring the property into compliance. In addition, the procedures should identify where within the database these documents should be kept as well as identify the protocol for ensuring that repeat violations are corrected in a timely manner.

To ensure that property owners correct violations in a timely manner, Pasadena should develop a work plan by July 2016 to identify and address its enforcement backlog by April 2017, so that the city is up to date with its enforcement actions, such as issuing notice letters and monitoring property owners' actions to resolve violations. Pasadena's work plan should also include updating the completion status of the violations so unresolved violations can be identified and monitored for subsequent correction.

To ensure that property owners correct violations in a timely manner, Pasadena should follow through with its enforcement policies, such as issuing notice letters.

To ensure that property owners correct violations in a timely manner, Pasadena should establish a written process for staff to monitor and ensure that property owners correct violations, including accurately identifying the properties that have not obtained necessary permits or have not had required reinspections performed.

To ensure that it conducts its resale record inspections and completes the reports in a timely manner, Pasadena should establish a process to monitor its ability to meet its established time goals from application date to report issuance, such as developing a reminder report or using an automated feature of its database. Pasadena should also document the date the report is issued on the resale record report and in its database.

To ensure that it conducts its resale record inspections and completes the reports in a timely manner, Pasadena should review its time goals by July 2016 for the resale record program and modify them if necessary, factoring in property owners' expectations and staff resources to complete the resale record reports. If applicable, Pasadena should update its policies and procedures to reflect the revised time goals.

To ensure that it conducts its resale record inspections and completes the reports in a timely manner, Pasadena should establish a method to identify those inspections that have inspection dates requested by property owners.

To ensure that the resale record fees it charges is appropriate, Pasadena should finalize its formal fee study by April 2016.

To ensure that the resale record fees it charges is appropriate, Pasadena should establish a time frame to periodically determine whether the fees are commensurate with the cost of administering the resale record program. The city should ensure that it retains any documentation used to support its analyses and any subsequent adjustments to fees.

To ensure that it can demonstrate that its resale record inspectors are qualified, Pasadena should develop a process to maintain continuing education attendance records. The city should ensure that staff receive periodic continuing education through internal and external sources to keep them current on code requirements, especially when the requirements are updated.

If Pasadena subsequently requires its resale record inspectors to have International Code Council certifications, it should ensure that those staff maintain them in good standing to perform their necessary job functions.

To ensure that it is aware of the degree of property owners' compliance with its resale record ordinance, San Rafael should implement procedures that can help it monitor the sale or exchange of properties that require resale record inspections. The city should work with applicable stakeholders, such as realtors, to aid in this effort.

To verify that new property owners are aware of the health and safety concerns at their properties and any corrections they need to make, San Rafael should develop a process to ensure that it receives homeowners' cards.

To ensure that it can monitor the satisfaction individuals have with the resale record program and that it has a uniform approach for resolving complaints, San Rafael should develop a formal process for tracking the complaints it receives. In addition, San Rafael should develop a formal policy that describes how staff should evaluate complaints, and it should document its activities associated with resolving complaints, such as the resolution and the rationale for the resolution. The city should also establish a designated location in its database to record this information.

San Rafael should develop formal written procedures for staff to follow up on property owners' correction of violations. These procedures should identify the method in which staff document in the database the violations identified during inspections and their actions to bring the property into compliance. In addition, the procedures should identify where within the database these documents should be kept as well as identify the protocol for ensuring that repeat violations are corrected in a timely manner.

To ensure that staff can identify any repeated violations, San Rafael's staff should review prior resale inspection reports before conducting subsequent resale record inspections.

To ensure that property owners correct violations in a timely manner, San Rafael should develop a work plan by July 2016 to identify and address its enforcement backlog by April 2017, so that the city is up to date with its enforcement actions, such as issuing notice letters and monitoring property owners' actions to resolve violations. San Rafael's work plan should also include updating the completion status of the violations so unresolved violations can be identified and monitored for subsequent correction.

To ensure that property owners correct violations in a timely manner, San Rafael should follow through with its enforcement policies, such as issuing notice letters.

To ensure that property owners correct violations in a timely manner, San Rafael should establish a written process for staff to monitor and ensure that property owners correct violations, including accurately identifying the properties that have not obtained necessary permits or have not had required reinspections performed.

To ensure that it conducts its resale record inspections and completes the reports in a timely manner, San Rafael should establish a process to monitor its ability to meet its established time goals from application date to report issuance, such as developing a reminder report or using an automated feature of its database.

To ensure that it conducts its resale record inspections and completes the reports in a timely manner, San Rafael should review its time goals by July 2016 for the resale record program and modify them if necessary, factoring in property owners' expectations and staff resources to complete the resale record reports. If applicable, San Rafael should update its policies and procedures to reflect the revised time goals.

To ensure that the resale record fees it charges is appropriate, San Rafael should conduct a formal fee study by December 2016 that incorporates the actual costs associated with the issuance of a resale record report by dwelling type.

To ensure that the resale record fees it charges is appropriate, San Rafael should establish a time frame to periodically determine whether the fees are commensurate with the cost of administering the resale record program. The city should ensure that it retains any documentation used to support its analyses and any subsequent adjustments to fees.

To ensure that it can demonstrate that its resale record inspectors are qualified, San Rafael should develop a process to maintain continuing education attendance records. The city should ensure that staff receive periodic continuing education through internal and external sources to keep them current on code requirements, especially when the requirements are updated.

To ensure that it can demonstrate that its resale record inspectors are qualified, San Rafael should ensure that staff who are required to have certifications continue to maintain them in good standing to perform their necessary job functions.