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Managing editor

An effort to streamline the assessment hearing process on code violations has been endorsed by the Coon Rapids City Council.

Miscellaneous assessment hearings have bogged down several council meetings over the past year because of the number of appeals and the need to go through them one-by-one.

And those assessments for code violations and appeals have increased at a rapid rate because of more pro-active code enforcement by city staff, stricter codes, higher penalties and issues associated with the housing economy in the recession.

As it is, there are currently some 500 parcels in the city with assessments pending for code violations, according to Matt Fulton, city manager.

So far this year, the council has approved two miscellaneous assessment rolls, each one accounting for 400 assessments.

The miscellaneous assessments are for services by the city which have not been paid by the property owner, according to Heidi Cederstrand, assessment clerk.

These include mowing and weed abatements, excessive consumption (several calls to the same property), reinspection fee, removal and disposal abatements, tree removal, securing vacant properties, utility bankruptcies, lodging tax and penalties, false alarms, citation fees, driveway work and vehicle tow.

In the latest round of assessments, in which appeals took up two meetings, 219 were for mowing/weed abatements, 37 for debris disposal, 133 for excessive consumption, three for utility bankruptcies, eight for securing vacant properties, 17 citations, eight false alarms, six rental reinspection fees, one vehicle code abatement, six lodging taxes with penalties, two driveway repairs and one tree removal.

What has taken the time is the public hearing procedure spelled out by state law and how long appeals must be accepted by the city, according to Fulton.

But Fulton said the recommended process provides options “to alleviate some of the difficulties that this has caused.”

The alternative proposed by Fulton and approved by the council would add a step to the process.

Property owners’ appeals would be handled by another body, called an Assessment Appeal Board, before they would go to the council.

According to Fulton, the appeal board would comprise five citizens who would be appointed by the council at its first meeting of the year.

Once the board hears the appeal, it will make a recommendation to the council for final action on the appeal and assessment.

In addition, staff is considering further steps in documenting violations, including using a digital camera and a measuring device to determine the height of grass/weeds, Fulton said.

And staff is also looking at the language in the contract the city has with it vendor performing the abatements, he said.

At the last round of miscellaneous assessment hearings, the council expressed concern with the cost under the present contract and the timeliness in abating code violations.

An attempt will also be made at the 2010 Minnesota Legislature to change the law on the assessment process, Fulton said.

With the new process in place, staff at the first council meeting of 2010 on Jan. 5 will recommend calling for a public hearing on the next round of miscellaneous assessments for the Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010 council meeting.

At that time appeals would be referred to the Assessment Appeal Board.

Peter Bodley is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it