Morrow, GA Recoups Backlog of Business License Fees with Comcate
David Roest currently works as the lone code enforcement officer for Morrow, GA, a city of less than 4 square miles in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Whereas many code professionals come to the job from a background in public service, Roest’s previous experience in the field was as a concerned citizen. In fact, his first brush with compliance was actually on the opposite side of the code.
“Around 18 years ago, I was fixing my car in my driveway, and our code enforcement officer stopped to say, ‘Hey, you can’t do that.’” The interaction sparked a conversation between Roest and the officer – now his boss, Zoning Administrator Marti Tracy – and led to a burgeoning interest in code enforcement.
While code enforcement had been operating out of the police department, it was brought back under City Hall’s oversight in the last few years. Tracy came on as supervisor, leaving the role of the department’s lone field officer up-for-grabs.
“When the city made the decision to bring the department back under City Hall, someone said, ‘We should call David and have him do the job.’ I already had a reputation, just from being a concerned resident – coming to neighborhood watch meetings, calling in, always knowing the code enforcement officers,” Roest said.
An Assist from Software
With the change to civilian management, the department got a fresh start. Not only were they starting over with staff, but with resources, too. Tracy had used Comcate’s code enforcement software previously and recommended it for the department. “She said it was like having an assistant.”
Roest has found Comcate helpful in a few key areas.
Centralized Organization
For Roest, a code enforcement solution provides valuable organization. “I like having a centralized location for everything. I don’t have to store pictures on my phone or computer. I can upload them, put them on the file, and delete them out of my iPhone.”
Beyond pictures, Roest uses Comcate as a centralized digital storage unit for everything case-related.
“The record retention is really nice,” Roest said. “It’s all there. I make notes every time I’ve made contact. I put attachments in, I put copies of citations. It keeps things really simple and organized.”
Collecting Contacts
The ability to build out a contact database and associate contacts with addresses and cases has also been valuable for Roest.
“When you put in the address and it pulls up the owner, it’s very rare that that's who you're dealing with,” he said. “You're usually dealing with a tenant, a property manager, a store manager, the landscaper. Now I put them all in as a contact associated with that address. So that's another feature of the software that I like, is building that contact list.”
Configurable + User-Friendly
Roest didn’t have prior experience using municipal software, but has found Comcate simple and easy to use – so simple, in fact, that he can even add in violations as-needed.
During implementation, the city provided a general list of common ordinances. But as Roest has worked the job, he’s run into a few property maintenance or zoning ordinances that weren’t included in the initial set-up.
“lf I run into a case where I don’t have the ordinance, I look it up in our Code of Ordinances, and input it into Comcate right there. I can add it and use it and be done in five minutes. It’s quick and easy.”
Editable Notice Generation
Roest carries a mobile printer in his truck so that he can generate and print notices from the field. Comcate’s notice generation capabilities pre-fill the document with information from the case, but still offers the ability to make changes before finalizing it – something Roest has found helpful.
Often he will edit the description of the code down to include only the specific example of the violation for that particular case, as he finds that it creates less confusion and pushback from the public. “I like that I can quickly go in there and edit the notice before I print it,” Roest said. “And the notice is nice. It looks really good. It looks official and it gets people's attention.”
Clearing a Backlog of Business Licenses
Apart from two or three email complaints and a couple phone calls a week, most of the work Roest does is proactive. “Most of what I do comes from patrolling and seeing violations and addressing it right then.”
As the sole code enforcement officer for the city, Roest does it all, from parking tickets to commercial properties and residential issues – but lately he’s focused much of his time on renewing business licenses.
Due to the changes in how code enforcement was handled, the chain of communication on business licenses in the city slipped, creating a backlog of expired or nonexistent licenses. “A lot of it I discovered when I was citing a business for something else and in the process I find out, ‘Oh, they don’t even have a business license!’
Some businesses were two or three years behind, while others had never gotten a license in the first place, and focusing on business license renewal has been lucrative for the city. “Just this week, with two businesses alone, we recouped like $42,000. And it took no effort – I didn't have to write citations. So there's been a really good return on this work.”
Organizing to Make Enforcement Easier
Roest starts every day looking at the dashboard in Comcate. “It’s the first thing I do when I get in so I can plan my day. I don’t have to remember what inspections should be today or where I need to go. It keeps me on a general plan.”
Overall, Roest says, “I've enjoyed the software. It makes my life a lot easier.”
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