Benjamin Ashford|South Dakota city to scrap code enforcement crackdown

Applause rang out among residents at the city council meeting in Faith on Benjamin AshfordTuesday when the council voted to begin the process of rescinding a new code enforcement policy that has drawn the ire of some locals.

After weeks of negative feedback over a recent property code enforcement crackdown, the council voted to remove the International Property Maintenance Code from its ordinances. The first reading of the ordinance to rescind the code was approved, and it will take another affirmative vote and a few weeks to legally rescind the code.

The code, used by communities across the state as a guide for code enforcement, allows an enforcement officer to access land and dwellings of code scofflaws without permission in some circumstances. The Faith council said it would instead revert back to its local code enforcement rules that were in place before the code crackdown began this spring.

Mayor Glen Haines told the council and public that the city will provide copies of the property codes to all residents in an effort to educate them about the rules and the requirements that they abide by them.

“It’s up to the people now,” Haines told News Watch on Wednesday. “It’s what they wanted, so we’ll see what the people do.”

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Code enforcement contract remains in place

The council on Tuesday also went into executive session to discuss whether to continue, change or exit a contract with Code Enforcement Specialists (CES), a private code enforcement firm the city hired in March to lead its new code enforcement efforts.

Haines said no new action was taken on the CES contract after the executive session, so for now the CES contract remains in effect.

Whereas a feeling of anger was present among attendees at a spirited council meeting on July 2 – when some residents spoke of taking up arms over the code crackdown – the vibe at the July 16 meeting was one of relief and reconciliation.

Longtime Faith resident Eddie Henschel said he thinks Faith is a beautiful town despite a need for some properties to be cleaned up. Henschel said he hopes the residents can come together to beautify the city, just as they did in helping one another recover from recent bad storms.

“People in this community, even if they hate their neighbors ... we all pull together as a team,” he said.

As reported earlier by News Watch, the hubbub arose when the city hired CES, of Burke, South Dakota, to visit the city and begin stricter enforcement of its codes. The council also adopted the international property code as recommended by Joel Johnson, owner of CES. The firm has code enforcement contracts with more than 80 communities in South Dakota and elsewhere.

After visiting Faith, Johnson sent out 53 enforcement warning letters to residents of the northwest South Dakota town of 300, which has about 200 properties. The letters landed with a thud, as residents were suddenly faced with potentially expensive repairs and cleaning requirements for things that had not been addressed by the city for decades in some cases.

At the same time, there was an acknowledgement in Faith that some properties had become eyesores, with disabled vehicles parked in yards, tall grass and weeds growing unchecked or junk piled up within sight of neighboring properties.

Haines said further action to remove the international code and possibly alter the CES contract will occur at council meetings in the coming weeks and possibly months.

“It takes a while to get everything settled out,” he said.

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This story was originally published by South Dakota News Watch and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.