It’s been one year since Tray Towles took over as manager of the Code Enforcement department for the City of Plant City. It was a different landscape before than it is now.
Since last July, Tray Towles and his team have made a number of significant improvements to both the department and the community under the guidance of city leaders.
Although the department’s mission statement is much the same — responding to citizen concerns, maintaining records, reviewing codes for revisions — Towles has added a focus on historic preservation. Towles, who lives in a historic home, has kept a close eye on Plant City’s Historic District. Most recently, he issued a batch of violations in May to downtown business owners and landlords.
Towles and his team have also spoken to business owners in the Historic District about their goals for the area, and many were receptive. Some businesses have painted the outside of their buildings, while others encourage their fellow shop owners to take it upon themselves to make their own exterior improvements. Many of the buildings on Baker, Wheeler and Reynolds streets have received a fresh coat of paint.
“It’s drastically improved driving into town,” Towles said. “We have a vision for the entire city.”
The response was successful — and the way Towles is recording those responses is another improvement to the department.
Before Towles, who formerly worked at the Plant City Police Department, took over Code Enforcement, its violations were recorded by hand in a ledger. In the last two weeks, the department has upgraded from recording the violations in books to an online database that allows them to look up information, in addition to a standard operating procedures for code enforcement, immediately.
Towles and his inspectors, Omar Cortez and Tina Barber, also have tablets installed in their vehicles.
“We certainly have revolutionized the way we’re doing business” Towles said. “We were the first in the city to use field-based operations. It makes things so much more efficient.”
Since getting the tablets, Towles and his team have been able to spend more time in the field and less time in the office. The department also uses an app that can determine who owns a property at any point in the city.
One-on-one communication is another part of the vision that City Manager Mike Herr and Assistant City Manager of Public Safety Bill McDaniel have for the department. With a motto of “progress through partnership,” the department’s goals include being creative and proactive in obtaining voluntary compliance and beautifying Plant City through personal responsibility.
“The first thing we do is make contact one on one and establish what the violation is and how to fix it,” Towles said. “[We try] not to just leave notes on people’s doors.”
Although the department is small in size, Towles and his team don’t use their limited numbers as an excuse for letting work fall through the cracks. If a property is found to have a violation but is unoccupied, the department will take care of the violation themselves, often mowing lawns and removing debris. The department has mowed 224 yards since Oct. 1.
VIOLATIONS AND VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE
Once the department notifies a resident of a violation, the resident is given 10 days to either come into code compliance or to begin work that will bring the violation into compliance. If the violation is still imminent after the 10-day period, the resident will receive an official notice of violation. If another 15 days pass and the violation still has not been taken care of, the resident will have to come in front of the Code Enforcement board.
Often, residents who are unable to meet the 10-day period because of certain circumstances, such as financial status, are granted a longer time frame to bring their violations into compliance.
“The vast majority of cases are resolved within that 10-day window,” Towles said, noting that there have been no board cases this year. “This is the city’s goals and visions, and where the city wants to go.”
Towles accredited much of the success over the past year to the goals of Herr and McDaniel, and the hard work put in by Barber and Cortez.
“I want to make sure credit is given where credit is due,” he said. “We’re just doing our part to try to make it better.”
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.
A NEW LOOK
On top of the technology advances, the department has had decals added to the code enforcement vehicles so that residents can identify code enforcement officers when they are working in the city.
Some residents have sent emails thanking the department for their presence, Tray Towles said.
BY THE NUMBERS
The top three code enforcement violations for private property over the past year were overgrown vegetation, property maintenance violations and inoperable vehicles.
291 cases of overgrown vegetation
134 property maintenance violations
73 inoperable vehicles
GRAND TOTALS
Total cases: 788 since July of last year; 701 since the fiscal year began in October.
Total inspections: 2,801 since the start of the fiscal year in October.
GET OFF THE LAWN
Signs on city rights-of-way were a top violation for public property, with 2,389 needing to be removed during the fiscal year. According to Tray Towles, the majority of signs needed to be removed during election season.
October removal: 399 signs
November removal: 476 signs