By Susan Jarvis
November 3, 2003

MWMA President Sarah Lile and Carrie Gallagher Sussman, Program Manager at Keep America Beautiful, took a look at the challenges, opportunities and best practices of code enforcement. Keep America Beautiful, a national non-profit organization that engages individuals to take a greater responsibility for their community environment, bases its programs on the involvement of stakeholders. "Code enforcement programs are interconnected," said Gallagher Sussman. When developing a code enforcement program, communities need to identify the stakeholders and bring them to the table to discuss the types of ordinances and fines on the books, how the codes are enforced and how infractions are administered in courts. According to Keep America Beautiful, sustainable code enforcement is based on building community relationships.

Lile, who is also Director of Environmental Affairs for Detroit, shared Detroit's innovative SWAT Team approach to code enforcement. This multi-disciplinary task force is a coordinated and strategic effort to increase the frequency and consistency of environmental code enforcement. Team members are cross-trained on core ordinances and are developing customer service training models. Communications include an internal tracking system and external programs, including a media campaign and translation service. While the team still has work to do, the success of their new model can be seen in an increase in fines payments, identifiable training needs and a cleaner Detroit.

For more information about Code Enforcement programs, log on to usmayors.org/mwma.