By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - With the temperatures warming and the snow all melted, it's time for Niles residents and city workers to get the city looking the best it possibly can.
Each day the deputy code enforcement officers and the Fire Marshal from the Niles City Fire Department, will travel around the city making sure that both residences and businesses are in compliance with the Niles City codes.
Some of the things that the code officers are looking for that may be a problem are broken windows, abandoned vehicles, chipping paint, a bad roof, garbage cans on streets, abandoned buildings, and excessive trash in a yard. They also do inspections of rental properties.
Leach added that spring is when the enforcement of the codes really gets going, because after all the snow has melted you can really see all of the things that are in yards and on buildings not in compliance with codes.
Deputy Code Enforcement Officer Chad Cherrone said, "When I'm out patrolling, I'm looking for yards that are organized and not cluttered with trash and other things. I basically make sure that things that aren't supposed to be there get taken care of."
When Cherrone finds a violation he will see if anyone is at the residence and talk to them about what he sees. If no one is home, he will then leave them a violation notice stating they have a specific amount of time to fix the problem, approximately 120 days.
When a violation notice is given, a record is made in city hall, so the officers can then follow up after the stipulated clean up time is over.
Cherrone added that the officers aren't trying to harass anyone, they are just doing their jobs, to promote safety issues and trying to keep Niles a healthier and safer community.
Lamb also added that he hopes that the residents respect the deputy code enforcement officers when they are out doing their job, because when they aren't doing codes they are out there rescuing lives and putting out the cities fires.
Niles residents are encouraged to keep their properties looking the best they can so that they don't receive a visit from a code enforcement officers.
If Niles city residents have any questions about codes they can access them through the cities web site at www.ci.niles.mi.us.