I hope you had a long, relaxing, and most of all, safe summer. I know the first day of school came too quickly at my house and like most years we were not totally ready.
I wanted to take a minute and give you some info on our Code Department and tell you about a great new tool. This department has a total of nine code officers, seven of these are certified property maintenance and housing inspectors and two are rental code inspectors. If you own a rental or live in a rental, it must be registered with New Castle County. Failure to do so will result in hefty fines.
So far this year for code related complaints, the cases are up dramatically with an estimated 9,456 cases projected for the year. This number has sent a red flag to the County and we must find ways to get the number back down. So we have started sending a courtesy letter for many first notices. The County is also conducting more show cause hearings. We are bringing in the property owners for a meeting. We are looking at on-spot ticketing and the possibility of starting a County Court to help deal with the issues.
One of the best ideas thus far is a new way to enter code complaints. This is now online at: Click here. You can enter a complaint anytime and the system will send back to you a case number that will allow you to monitor the situation. You will not be able to get specifics, but you will be able to check on the status of the complaint.
Use this new online reporting system to report any property maintenance issues. If you do use this new feature, I would like to know what you thought of it, how easy it was to use, and if you would change anything. As always, contact me with any questions or concerns.
Councilman David L. Tackett
New Castle County Council
Eleventh District
302-395-8351
dltackett@nccde.org