A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
CODE
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The department has been in
touch with the owner and had a
structural engineer go in.
“When will the awning
come down? I don’t know,”
Marcum said. “The property
owner is still waiting for the
insurance claim.”
The city has had a code
enforcement officer for years,
with Marcum, a former HPD
sworn officer, in the role
since 2012. The responsibil-
ity has bounced back and forth
between different departments
in the city. Since July, the police
department took it over again
from parks and recreation, and
has added a second part-time
code enforcement officer, for-
mer OSP Sgt. Tom Spicknall.
Marcum said while his
job is to get people to follow
city rules, he doesn’t want to
babysit.
“We want to educate peo-
ple first,” he said, adding that
many times, a person won’t
even know they’re in viola-
tion. Although a person is sup-
posed to correct a violation
within seven days, Marcum
said on average it takes him
three times of contacting vio-
lators before they take action.
Even then, he said, if people
ask for extensions, he’s will-
ing to grant them. A citation is
the last step. Even if a person is
cited, he said, a judge will usu-
ally give them a chance to rem-
edy the problem.
Officers said the goal is to
make the area more safe and
livable — in addition to being
unsightly, run-down properties
can also attract crime and other
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2018
FROM A1
STAFF PHOTO BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
Code Enforcement Officer Mike Marcum tells a man that he needs
to move along from a vacant lot where he had set up a tent.
problems.
“We don’t like to tell people
to cut their grass,” said Capt.
Travis Eynon. “People believe
these are pushing the enve-
lope on personal rights — but
somebody’s overgrown lawn
may affect the neighborhood,
creating a fire hazard or a rat
harborage.”
Other violations can include
parking a boat or camper on
the street for too long, hav-
ing a basketball hoop in the
street, or trees growing over the
sidewalk.
Ultimately, if the person
does not complete the task, the
city has a contractor that will
do the work for them. The per-
son gets charged for the cost of
the work, plus a 10 percent fee,
and the city will place a lien on
the property.
Some violations are more
glaring than others. Marcum
will often walk through vacant
lots littered with trash, or large
items like shopping carts and
appliances that people have
dumped.
“We try to get a hold of
any property owner with large
vacant lots, to keep them cut
down,” Marcum said. “By
keeping them cut, we can see
what’s in there, and they can
see what’s in there. A lot of
homeless people are looking
for places where no one can see
in.”
One such area is a vacant
lot behind Taco Bell, with sev-
eral trees and bushes creating
a shelter. Noticing a makeshift
tent under a low-hanging tree,
Marcum walked up and found
someone inside.
“Good morning,” he said,
introducing himself, before
informing the man he was
breaking city rules by being
there, and needed to move
along.
Though Marcum knows
people won’t usually be happy
to see him knocking on their
doors, he said he tries to make
positive interactions with
people.
“We’re not trying to break
anyone’s bank,” he said.
“We’re just trying to make
them responsible so the city
looks better.”
Many times, Chief Jason
Edmiston said, the prob-
lems are on properties where
the landlord does not live in
Hermiston.
“At some point with chronic
landlords, we may go straight
to a citation,” he said. “It’s a
waste of time for everyone to
have to continue to babysit cer-
tain properties.”
The ordinances lay out spe-
cific violations, and are all pub-
licly available on the city’s
website.
Edmiston encouraged resi-
dents to call the city or police
department if they have viola-
tions to report.
“If we wanted to be 100
percent proactive on code
enforcement, there would be
a lot of unhappy people,” he
said. “We’re trying to balance
between being proactive and
being complaint-driven. But at
the end of the day, the goal is to
make sure the city doesn’t have
hazards and look unappealing.”
SENIORS
continued from Page A1
She said the new building was “just super”
and she hoped that some opportunities for
games, such as pinochle, would be available.
Her daughter, Emily Mellick, said she
loved the new building as well, and appreci-
ated the extra room for meals and other events.
Colleen Moe and Elly Smith were sitting
across the table from each other Thursday and
both pointed out things they liked about the
new center, which includes breakout rooms, a
front desk, offices, commercial kitchen and a
great hall with a gas fireplace.
“It’s really nice the way it’s arranged here,”
Smith said.
Their only complaints were that Smith
wished it were more out in the country and
Moe said the acoustics in the building made
for a very noisy lunch — something others
noted as well.
Walter Liebe said it was his first time in
the new building, which he called “awesome”
and “beautiful.”
“I’m just happy it’s finished, finally, and
we’re here,” he said.
He said he hoped to attend some of the
classes and clubs being offered at the cen-
ter as well. A card club was planning to meet
after lunch.
Beebe said that center has been used for
Tai Chi, yoga, Bible study and other classes
since its opening a few weeks ago. She said
they have been asking for donations instead of
charging a set fee for groups to use the facility
and so far that had been working well.
While someday the city hopes that it can
use the building for evening activities that
don’t interfere with the seniors, for the next
five years the rules of the $2 million fed-
eral grant that helped fund the building state
only activities for senior citizens are allowed.
Beebe said the building is open for general
use by seniors from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday
through Friday, and she was pleased to see
earlier that two men were there drinking cof-
fee and playing board games together.
“In the afternoons we would love to see
people come in and do board games, puzzles,
quilting, things like that,” she said.
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