What can you do if the property next door is overgrown with weeds or littered with trash? Or worse, one night you see rats scampering across your lawn to their nest next door. Such a property is considered a community fire, health, and safety problem.
Our Rio Vista Police Code Enforcement Officer, Renee Souza, is here to help. Officer Souza’s job description is “…prevention, detection, investigation, and enforcement of violations of ordinances regulating public safety, public works, business activities, building standards, land-use, … to preserve the quality of life expected by the citizens of Rio Vista.”
Any Rio Vista resident can anonymously submit a complaint to officer Souza, and she will investigate. She works complaints by “…getting people to understand that laws are set in place for a reason and compliance with the municipal codes, health & safety codes, benefits everyone. “
After investigating a complaint, if it is valid, she contacts the person responsible to advise them of the specific law and give them a courtesy written notice. Ten days later, she follows up to see if the problem has been resolved. If not, a second written Notice of Violation is sent to the owner or tenant. Failure to show progress within an additional 10 days results in an Administrative Citation with a $100 fine. Upon reinspection in another five days, a second Administrative Citation with an additional fine of $200 is delivered. Failure to make progress in the next five days results in a third Administrative Citation, with a daily fine of $500. At this last step, Officer Souza’s department collaborates with our city attorney and a judge to draft and execute a warrant. For failure to respond to the warrant, the city will hire a contractor to fix the issue and place a lien on the property.
Officer Souza advises that her department does not handle complaints like:
- Too many vehicles at a property.
- Excessive individuals in a home.
- Tenant complaints against property owners.
- Homeowner Association rule violations.
- Food safety concerns.
- Animal complaints such as barking dogs, pet waste, unleashed, diseased or injured animals.
- Any criminal or life safety issues (better addressed by other police departments).
She highlighted some of duties and complaints the Code Enforcement Department handles like:
- Community outreach and education.
- Complaint investigations.
- Abandoned or inoperative vehicles on private property.
- Objects blocking the public right-of-way, such as a car parked on a neighborhood sidewalk.
- Overgrown vegetation.
- Vehicles parked on an unapproved surface.
- Junk, debris, and storage in public view.
- Business license and home occupation inspections.
- Establishing partnerships with fire, building, public works and outside agencies.
Rio Vista is fortunate to have Officer Souza on board as our Code Enforcement Officer. Her experience in police matters began at 16 when she was a volunteer police explorer. After a 20-year career as a hospital Emergency Room Technician, she returned to police work. She began as a Records Clerk for the Livermore Police Department, then was hired as a Community Service Officer for the Brentwood Police Department. For the last 14 years, she has held Code Enforcement positions with the City of Antioch and the Richmond Police. She has also been contracted to train other police department Code Enforcement personnel.
You can contact Officer Souza by telephone at (707) 374-6366 or by email at rsouza@riovistapd.com.
