The North Bend Eagle

 

City considering outside help with code enforcement

by Nathan Arneal
Published 1/15/25

The North Bend City Council is considering contracting with Signal Security for ordinance enforcement.

Shane Wimer of Signal gave a presentation to the council at its Jan. 6 meeting. Wimer has been running a security firm in Fremont since 2005. He has served on the Fremont Police Department for 34 years and as a captain oversaw FPD’s patrol division, detective bureau and its code enforcement division. He said Fremont’s code enforcement started with three officers but was so successful that it has expanded to five.

If contracted, a Signal officer would visit North Bend once or twice a week – depending on what the city council wants – to enforce what he called “quality of life” city ordinances. Wimer listed examples such as accumulation of junk or debris in yards, animal feces, improper disposal of garbage, failure to maintain high grass, weeds or plant growth, storage of unregistered or inoperable motor vehicles and outside placement of indoor appliances or furniture.

Signal will document the violation and provide the resident or property owner a notice to fix or repair the violation. Signal would then follow up until the issue is resolved.

This ability to follow-up interested the city council. Currently, code enforcement is part of the city’s contract with the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office, but city clerk Theresa Busse said the city doesn’t get feedback from DCSO on how violations are handled.

“We don’t know what Dodge County does,” Busse said. “They don’t keep us in the loop. We give them a list and ask them to do things, and they might do the initial contact, but if they don’t catch them (at home) or it gets skipped, we’re thinking they’re handling it and nothing’s being done.”

Wimer said the main goal of Signal is to resolved the code violation before it reaches the point the legal system gets involved.

“In our experience, 80% of quality of life code enforcement can be achieved with a simple reminder,” Wimer said.

If a violation or nuisance is not immediately remedied, the Signal officer will talk to the resident to see what the situation is. He gave an example of a grandma whose lawn was mowed by a grandson and the grandson moved away so the yard became overgrown.

“We want to try to help that individual to get to where they need to get to before you ever get to a citation or an attorney gets involved,” Wimer said.

Councilman Ken Streff said this extra layer of mediation with a violator before an expensive trip to court would be worth the fees paid to Signal.

“How many times can we avoid court and get things done?” Streff said. “Instead of just avoiding court and not getting things done.”

Wimer quoted $1,150 a month to visit North Bend once a week or $2,034 a month for twice a week.

“We would come every week,” Wimer said, “two to three hours a week and deal with those issues every week until they are fixed or until (the council) gives us direction on where we need to go.”

Wimer said Signal recently started its ordinance violation enforcement program. Cedar Bluffs and Nickerson have joined the program with several other towns calling with interest.

The North Bend council did not take any action on the proposal, though its members expressed enthusiasm at the idea of joining the program. The proposal will be revisited at the next council meeting.

 

Read the full story in the print or e-edition.

<<Back to the front page