By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — The city Ordinance Department will transition to tablets by the start of August.
The tablets will allow ordinance officers to increase efficiency while out on the field for calls.
“The tablets are going to increase the citation writing process and allow our officers to be more accurate,” Director of Ordinance Enforcement Jack McIntyre said. “They will allow for our prep time to go from one hour to 10 minutes before heading out on calls.”
During the May 12 City Council meeting, the council unanimously voted to purchase eight Motion tablets.
“The tablets have been ordered and will arrive in three weeks,” McIntyre said. “We will set aside two to three weeks for training before implementing the tablets.”
New tablets will allow field ordinance inspectors to check on construction project permits, if dogs and cats are licensed, house tenant checks and more instead of calling back to the office.
“Ordinance officers will be able to write and print citations on sight without the need of paperwork,” McIntyre said. “In the future we hope to have Ping or email alerts for residents so they know when we are at the property.”
Currently, the ordinance department receives up to 75 calls on a normal day and about 130 calls on a busy day regarding a variety of ordinance and animal related issues.
“On May 18, 19 and 20 we had 300 calls and messages each day for ordinance or animal control related issues,” McIntyre said. “We even had to get help from the mayor’s office and Human Resources Department.”
From May 4 to 26 the department issued issued more than 1,000 violations due to various issues.
The ordinance officers found 690 grass violations, 117 trash can violations, 34 boat and recreational vehicle violations, 52 abandon vehicles violations, 137 blight violations, 121 animal control violations.
“People think all the calls and violations are a bad thing, but I think they’re a good thing because residents are willing to call when they see an issue,” McIntyre said.
The department office is inside City Hall, 6045 Fenton.
Anyone with ordinance issues can call 313-791-3797. Cat or dog emergency calls should be made 313-277-6770, non-emergency calls for cats can be made at 313-791-3483 and dogs at 313-791-3484.
The department will host a Protect-A-Pet clinic sponsored by the Michigan Humane Society from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 6 at City Hall.
Pet owners can give their cat or dog a rabies shot and vaccination for $5 each and have a microchip placed in their pet for $10. Residents also can get a license for their dog or cat.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)