JACKSON – Code enforcement employees in Jackson have handed out more than 550 violations notices through the first 10 months of 2020.
On Oct. 27, Code Enforcement Supervisor Andrew Cheney brought members of the Township Council up to date with a report about his department’s activities this year.
Cheney reported that as of Oct. 26, “we have written over 560 notices of violation of residents for various reasons. We have done 974 landlord registrations. We have completed 280 rental inspections on single-family homes, and we are at 370 rental inspections on multi-family homes.”
He said code enforcement efforts had brought in $101,000 in fines to Jackson as of that date.
Cheney later told the Tri-Town News the three most significant categories of residential violations were written for property maintenance issues, failure to renew landlord registration and failure to obtain a rental continuing certificate of occupancy.
“We have been extremely busy and we still have two months to go. … We have gotten so busy that the municipal court has (sessions) strictly for code enforcement matters … We are definitely keeping the town hopping,” Cheney told the members of the governing body.
Cheney moved on from the topic of violations and said there have been questions raised about short-term rentals in Jackson.
“Several (advertisements for short-term rentals) are still appearing on internet sites. One in question quite often pops up … I did some research and that one is in compliance. It states on their application that a minimum 30-day stay is required,” he said
Council President Alex Sauickie thanked Cheney for updating the council members on these matters.
Sauickie asked how many code enforcement employees there are in Jackson and Cheney said there are six full-time employees and two part-time employees.
Cheney said code enforcement personnel have caught some business operators working on weekends without a permit. He said his staff members work at various times.
“Most of the guys who work here are retired cops. The mayor likes to have retired law enforcement officers and we are not afraid to dig into things, to investigate … We think outside the box in a lot of ways,” he told the governing body.
