June 13, 1999
Health Department continues to handle nuisance complaints
By Erik Burriss
Staff Writer
Beginning in the summer of 1996, Tiffin began contracting out the investigation of nuisance health complaints to the Seneca County General Health District.
Before that, City Administrator Wayne Stephens says, complaints made to the city were handled by the police.
The police, said Stephens, do not have the proper training for conducting sanitation and health inspections. Also, the only enforcement option for the police in health matters was handing out citations for violating city ordinances, which, Stephens said, did nothing to prevent people from paying the fine and continuing to be a nuisance.
Tiffin's answer was signing a two-year contract, for $25,000 a year, allowing complaints made to the city offices about cases inside Tiffin to be routed directly to the Health Department. Another two-year contract was signed in the summer of 1998.
This is the only example of this kind of city/county cooperation in Seneca County, Director of Environmental Health Scott Rabun said.
The arrangement allows the Health Department to assign one inspector to handle most of the complaints inside Tiffin. For example, in 1998 sanitarian Mary Ann Miller conducted 234.25 of the 333 hours required to investigate 100 nuisance complaints within the city limits.
The Health Department bills the city $23.60 per hour, which covers the hourly wage, benefits and travel of the inspector, as well as the paperwork generated, Rabun said.
Complaints can come from the city administrator's office, private citizens, other governmental agencies or other sources, Rabun said.
"I once responded [to a complaint] from an ambulance company," he said.
"If we get a call, we're going to do an investigation."
When Miller inspects a building, she checks to make sure "they have all of the basics," she said. Hot and cold running water, a bathroom tub or shower, properly working kitchen sinks and drains, electrical outlets that are covered, bare wires and general cleanliness and upkeep are some of the things she generally will check. Sometimes there are more specific items, such as window screens if insects are part of the complaint.
The Health Department works with other agencies such as Children's Services if children are living in unsafe conditions or fire departments if there is a problem with smoke detectors. Sometimes another agency is brought in if an inspector is not qualified to make decisions on something.
"My staff are not trained electrical inspectors or building inspectors," Rabun said. "We will contact the fire department or the city engineer."
The Health Department will explain to the offender what needs to be done, which is usually enough, Rabun said.
"There are basics of sanitation that everyone needs to comply by." he said.
"Most people want to be compliant," Rabun said, citing ignorance and lifestyle choices as two reasons properties fall in to a state of disrepair requiring Health Department intervention.
"We want to work with people if they are willing to work with us."
If the offender does not make the required repairs, the case is turned over to the county prosecutor and the offender taken to court.
"If we set up a hearing, it goes before a judge," said Rabun. "We're not just blowing smoke."
According to Stephens, the number of nuisance complaints coming through his office has declined from 61 in 1997, the first full year the contract was in effect, to 20 in 1998, to 14 so far in 1999. This may mean more complaints are going directly to the Health Department, since Rabun reports there were 100 complaints in 1998 and 52 so far this year in Tiffin.
Still, Stephens feels the number of repeat offenders has declined.
Rabun's appraisal of the effect of the contract is that what has declined is the amount of time it takes to get results from a complaint.
"Things seem to be getting wrapped up faster," he said.