CAPE MAY — Following a debacle that cost the city manager his job in May, City Council is considering removing code enforcement supervision from the city’s police department.
At a July 8 meeting, council discussed bringing the department under the direct control of the city manager or merging code enforcement with the city’s construction office.
Deputy Mayor Linda Steenrod said there was a clear distinction between code enforcement and law enforcement. She police were not trained in code enforcement and it was not fair to put that burden on their department.
Under police administration, more code enforcement violations were written during the first few months of this year than the total for all of 2007, said Councilman Niels Favre.
Councilman David Kurkowski said he did not want to see a replay of Memorial Day weekend where the city manager shut down the patio serving areas of two restaurants due to permit paperwork mix-ups.
Mayor Edward J. Mahaney Jr. suggested a stand-alone code enforcement department be created. He said a warning should be issued before a violation is written.
Favre suggested code enforcement remain under the control of the police department until the end of the year. He concurred with the mayor that warnings be issued on first infractions.
Mahaney said the warnings could significant decrease problems with code enforcement.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
