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F, 2 1997 BOOK. ��f'A.GE Chairman Eggert asked if there is any difference in the way staff handles an anonymous complaint, and County Administrator Chandler advised that our policy is to respond to all complaints and make a determination whether a violation exists. -An anonymous complaint generally would not receive high priority unless it involved public health or safety. Commissioner Scurlock realized that in a county of our size there are many code violations and it would be absolutely impossible to investigate all of them with only two or three code enforcement officers. This puts the County in a situation where we may be accused of selective enforcement. There may be 30 violators in a given area but because a neighbor does not like the guy next door, he will report just that one. Commissioner Scurlock had no doubt that this problem exists and feels the County's goal should be to streamline the process so that it is more uniform. He felt that anonymous complaints deserve no attention, because if somebody is not willing to give their name, it does not deserve the same merit as somebody who is willing to come forth and testify. He understood Mr. Mensing is upset by the trespass but that the issue of being singled out is his bigger concern. A major problem is that code enforcement becomes involved in neighborhood disputes and Commissioner Scurlock could not see a solution to that problem. Chairman Eggert questioned whether code violation citings would be legal when the code enforcement officer trespassed upon the property. County Attorney Charles Vitunac advised that the County's position is to deal with Mr. Mensing only in writing because we cannot trust what he says. Mr. Mensing states one thing, our code enforcement officer says another. The legal department has advised that when a code enforcement officer sees a "no trespassing" sign, they need more permission to go on the property. If there is a dispute, Mr. Mensing can plead his case before the Code Enforcement Board, and if he is not happy with their decision, he can proceed to the court system. Mr. Mensing has a long history of violations and he has not denied the subject violations; he is objecting to a procedural matter which should be addressed by the Code Enforcement Board. County Attorney Vitunac felt it is essential to the operation of the code enforcement department to act on anonymous complaints. There are some situations where if a name is recorded, there could be retaliation by harassment or phone calls during the night or other unpleasant consequences. We do not need the name of the caller because we do not use their testimony to prove a case. The code inspector will investigate and when a violation. is brought to 24