San Carlos Seeks to Restore Municipal Code Enforcement.

June 21, 2011

Bid to Outsource Key Role.

Although the plight of the San Carlos Police and Fire Departments and the Park & Recreation Department garnered the majority of the headlines when the City of San Carlos grappled with its structural budget deficit this past year, there were other lesser-known areas within the City's government that felt the pinch of 11 years of belt-tightening as well.  One of those duties was the enforcement of the city's municipal code.

In the past, according to San Carlos Building Official Chris Valley, the role of investigating municipal code violations fell largely on one of the inspectors on the city staff.  But budget constraints forced the elimination of that position last July 30th.  Since then, the duty of responding to code violation complaints has competed with the other time-critical responsibilities of the Building Department, such as reviewing building plans, inspecting permitted work, etc.

Now, the City of San Carlos is looking to restore this service by potentially outsourcing the duty to a qualified outside agency.   They recently submitted an RFP to get bids from outside agencies.  Here's an excerpt of that RFP:

BIDS/RFP for RFP – Municipal Code Enforcement Services
Specification #060811
The City of San Carlos is requesting a written proposal from qualified agencies and consulting firms to perform, and improve, municipal code & zoning code enforcement services within the City. Duties will include written notification and face-to-face contact with individuals to address various code enforcement violations. The City has a budget of $50,000.00 for a contract or shared code enforcement services agreement with this RFP request.

The City of San Carlos receives and responds to municipal & zoning code complaints for weeds, over-grown shrubbery, blighted vacant homes, illegal signs, and other municipal & zoning code violations. The City desires an agreement with a qualified agency or contracting firm to provide at least 20 hours per week of code enforcement services.

Due Date:  July 8th, 2011 by 2 PM.

This means that there may soon be more bodies available to respond to code complaints and violations that keep the City of San Carlos from looking its best.

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1 Comments

  1. Vince on June 25, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    All this outsourcing is going to haunt the City one day. There will be no control or accountability.



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