short stories / By Heidi Walters

Task Force

The pie charts depicted code enforcement unit cases by category (structures, grading and junk trash comprise the bulk of the cases), and the number of parcels in unincorporated Humboldt County, per district, that fall under the purview of the code enforcement unit (it’s a lot). Photos showed junky houses before and after they’d been cleaned up — these garnered no discussion.

Chaitin discussed a survey of code enforcement units that revealed, among other things, that six percent of the units were armed, 62 percent had experienced an officer safety issue, and 13 percent of the inspectors had “been held against their will.”

“So, it’s something to think about,” Chaitin said.

Hendry explained where some cases originate: a state department of conservation’s audit of Williamson Act programs, a Grand Jury report on Subdivision Map Act violations, referrals from other departments. He noted the difference between criminal search warrants — like cops would use to bust an illegal pot grow, for instance — which require probable cause, and civil inspection warrants — which code inspectors can use to investigate suspected code violations — which require only cause. He cited case law that allows some warrants to be delivered without advance notice to a property owner if the unit thinks the owner will try to conceal evidence of a violation.

Wes Juliana, a task force member also from CLMP, asked, “Is one of those circumstances that you expect marijuana is being grown?”

“No,” said Hendry. “We’re not involved in marijuana eradication, that’s for somebody else.”

And so on. A lot of ground was ramblingly covered. The task force made a list of specifics for the county counsel’s staff to provide before the next meeting, among them: page-numbered copies of the code enforcement unit’s manual; an organizational chart of the unit’s power structure; the number of complaints it receives and where they come from; a copy of the state audit of the county’s Williamson Act program; the date of the Grand Jury report on Subdivision Map Act violations; and a full report with timeline of the Woods Ranch/Elk Ridge affair, one of the Code Enforcement raids that brought the issue to public consciousness.

The next meeting is June 6, 10 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors room at the county courthouse.

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