City residents protest city cuts to code compliance position

On Wednesday, May 19, The City of Portola held a special meeting to discuss the draft 2021-2022 draft budget.

One of the key items discussed during the meeting was the position of code compliance officer, which is a position that has been held by Kevin Sankey in recent months.

City Manager Lauren Knox acknowledged during the meeting that Sankey has provided a great service to the City of Portola and has fulfilled his role to the best of his ability. “However, both Kevin and I have struggled through processes and finding paths forward, which has been due in part to the fact that I am not a code enforcement expert and cannot provide the proper oversight or knowledge needed with regards to certain processes and remedies,” Knox said.

Knox stated that it was her belief that the city needed to perform a more standard code enforcement role that would place more focus on enforcing health and safety codes, including addressing blight and building related enforcement issues.

Knox noted that Plumas County has brought up the need for additional funding to support the contract with the City and Sheriff for law enforcement services. “They are looking for additional funding this year and want to have future conversations to increase the amount of funding in later years,” Knox explained. “It was made clear that the existing contract amount was not going to be sufficient to bring forward this year.”

Knox has been working with appropriate county staff to determine an acceptable increase of $130,000 for sheriff services; however, this would also include the provision of animal control services. The code compliance officer position is paid for from the same portion of money as the sheriff’s services and it puts a financial strain on the city to keep both the code compliance officer position and the Sheriff contract afloat.

Staff discussed the reorganization and restructuring of code enforcement services with the Finance and Administration Committee who offered direction to continue reviewing and developing a reorganization plan and present it to the council.

Multiple public comments were heard from the community on the matter, with most conveying their support of Sankey and his role with the city as “an asset,” stating that the removal of the code compliance officer position would be a great loss to the community.

After discussion, city council ultimately decided to approve the plan to eliminate the code compliance officer position as of Wednesday, June 30, and would be utilizing third party contract code enforcement services moving forward.

One local, Ashlee Sims, started a petition in response to the decision, which states in part, “Officer Kevin’s job is very important to our beautiful community…He loves his community and strives for the best. Now it’s our turn to come together as a community and fight for the only one who cares about each and every single one of us.”

The petition can be found online here.