BELTON, Mo. — To help crack down on problem properties, the city of Belton has hired a second codes enforcement officer.
With more than 20,000 residents calling the city home, the city's lone inspector was overwhelmed by an increasing number of complaints.
"Not only are we looking at tall grass and junk trash and debris, but we have some homes that have are vacant and are run down," Alexa Barton, Belton city manager, said.
The city previously had two code enforcement officers but had to cut one of them during the 2008 recession.
Now under better financial footing, the city decided to hire to keep up with the complaints.
“Not only was there a backlog, but the city was really in an area where we were attempting to try and work with people to help clean up their yard,” Barton said.
The city is averaging 125 investigations a week.
Since April of this year, the city cited nearly 960 properties, totaling more than 1,450 code violations.
This compared to the last few years, where the number of code violations were around 1,000 a year.
It’s a hire that’s receiving mixed reaction in the community.
“I think it’s a good thing because there’s a lot of upkeep to do and keeping a second person on non-stop would be a good idea,” Belton resident Jay Berger said.
“They pinpoint certain people or certain neighbors pinpoint certain neighbors that they don’t care for, for what’s in their driveway,” said Belton resident Kate Elliott.
For the most part, the city said this will be a complaint-based system.
