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Lathrop focuses more on education for city code enforcement
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The City of Lathrop is going to try a new approach when it comes to code enforcement within the city limits.

Last month the Lathrop City Council held a special meeting where they gave the city’s contracted code enforcement director the direction to prioritize education over enforcement and make subtle changes to the historical way that Lathrop has enforced its municipal code.

Historically, Lathrop has issued a “notice of violation” on the third step of its process, but that will be replaced with a courtesy notice that may come with in-person education and discussion of potential solutions for the property owner found to be in violation.

After that new third step takes place, the staff will schedule an inspection and then carry out that inspection after a specific timeframe – only issuing a “notice of violation” if the infraction is not cleared up.

Monetary fines wouldn’t be issued until the sixth step after a second failed inspection.

But while the city’s previous approach allowed for an indefinite number of citations to be issued until the issue was resolved, the new direction caps the number of citations at three – with the most expensive being $500. Once three citations are issued, the matter will come back before staff for a meeting and further discussion before additional steps are taken.

Abatement – conducting the cleanup and then seeking reimbursement – will remain an option for advanced cases, as will recordation and both criminal and civil legal avenues.

According to Lathrop Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal, the new approach is intended to help educate the public about the code enforcement process and give people time to comply before taking punitive action.

“These people are our neighbors, and we want to treat them like our neighbors,” Dhaliwal said. “As a council we felt education should be the first step, and that the citations shouldn’t be endless – there should be a chance to take a look at cases like that.”

To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.