A warning or a ticket? City considers harsher code enforcement

The city council is considering whether to crack down more on households that have excessive litter in the yard. The council may direct code enforcers to no longer issue warning notices and instead issue tickets.

By Charles Sercombe
Be aware that, if you have too much trash in your yard, the city council is considering no longer playing Mr. Nice Guy.
Instead of the city’s code inspectors first issuing a warning notice, Councilmember Mohammed Alsomiri is proposing to skip the warning and instead immediately issue a violation.
Violations come with a financial penalty. Misdemeanor tickets can be as much as $500.
But it was pointed out that, in Hamtramck, trash often comes unknowingly from other sources, such as trash being windblown into other yards or someone throwing trash on someone’s property.
As anyone who has lived here for a while can tell you, trash accumulation in the city can happen overnight, or anytime during the day – every day.
Councilmember Khalil Refai, who is a city code enforcer, said that issuing warnings can sometimes create problems, or additional work for workers.
Councilmember Nayeem Choudhury said that not giving a warning first will “backfire,” because a number of people work long hours and are not home much.
“People should be allowed to clean up,” he said.
Councilmember Mohammed Hassan agreed that a warning period is needed, and suggested giving homeowners a 72-hour notice.
Interim City Manager Max Garbarino said that code enforcers already use discretion before issuing a ticket. He said enforcers use their own judgment on when to issue a warning and when to immediately issue a ticket.
At the end of the council’s discussion, it was decided to send the issue back to a council sub-committee for further review.
This is not the only issue the council has wrestled with recently.
The most controversial issue was whether to ban, or allow, animal sacrifices, for religious reasons, at residential dwellings. A council sub-committee had suggested banning the practice.
But that provoked a backlash from some in the Muslim community, who said banning the practice would violate their First Amendment right to practice their religion.
Others in the community spoke in favor of the ban, citing health and safety concerns for residents.
That matter was last addressed a few months ago, and has yet to come back up for council consideration.
In other code enforcement news, the council agreed to ease up on what’s considered residential grass that is overgrown and ticket-worthy. Instead of ticking households for grass that is 5 inches or longer, the threshold is now 7 inches or more.
Posted Oct. 14, 2022