Health and Welfare Code Enforcement

The Code Enforcement Division helps to protect the City of Valley Falls public’s well-being and enhance the quality of life by enforcing the health, safety, zoning, and sanitation codes. 

Have a question?  Give us a call.  We will be happy to assist you.

Please refer to this guide to understand how the Valley Falls Code Enforcement process works. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact City Administrator.

Code Enforcement Process: 

Step 1 - Inspection: 

The City of Valley Falls uses the services of a contracted Code Violation Inspector. This individual on a regular basis explores the City looking for violations that exist. Here is what will happen if a violation is found on a property you own: 

Step 2 - Nuisance 30-Day Courtesy Letter: 

When the Code Violation Inspector identifies a violation, this will be documented on the 'Nuisance Inspection Report' (Please see the related documents section). Once staff receives this notification from the inspector, a '30-Day Courtesy Letter' to correct the violation will be sent to the property owner. 

During the 30-day period following this courtesy letter, the property owner and/or person cited with this violation will have the opportunity to request a meeting to dispute the identified violation and/or request accommodations due to circumstances that clouds the individuals' ability to correct the violation. If no meeting is desired, correcting the cited violation is required within 30-days.

After correcting the violation, please feel free to notify City staff. However, it's not a problem if you don't advise staff - the inspector makes routine re-inspections and will be able to clear your property if the violation is corrected. 

Step 3 - 10-Day Notice to Abate a Nuisance: 

After the 30-day period, the inspector will go out and conduct follow-up inspections. As noted in Step 2, if your violation has been corrected, your property will be counted as completed. If the violation has not been corrected yet, the inspector will make note of this and a 10-day notice to correct the violation will be sent. 

After the notice has been sent, the property owner will have ten days to 1) correct the violation, 2) request an administrative meeting. 

If the individual wants to request a meeting, the individual will need to prepare a written request for a meeting and submit it to City staff at City Hall. Once City staff receives the written request (email is fine too), an in-person meeting will be scheduled with the Administrative Hearing Officer. These meetings can be scheduled to take place after 5 PM, Monday-Friday. These will be scheduled at the next possible date from the request. 

At these meetings, the Administrative Hearing Officer has the ability to grant an extension to allow for an individual to have more time to move towards compliance These extensions can be granted if the mitigating circumstances presented to warrant such an extension.

If the individual has a dispute related to the findings of the inspections, this can be addressed in the meetings. Helpful resources include Chapter 8: Health and Welfare, located on this page, or the Planning and Zoning regulations here. 

Step 5 - Administrative Order: 

After the 10-day period expires, and no meeting is requested with results indicating other action, the inspector will conduct another reinspection of the property If the violation has been completed, the inspector will clear the property If the violation still exists, this information will be passed along to the Administrative Hearing Officer This will result in an Administrative Order. 

An Administrative Order can mean a few different things. If the violation isn't cumbersome to correct, the Administrative Officer can make the decision to have City Staff, or other designated agents, abate the nuisance. This option will result in charges for abatement and administrative fees. 

If the violation would require an extensive clean-up, the Administrative Hearing Officer can make the decision to order that the case be sent to the prosecution phase. 

Step 6 - Prosecution: 

If staff action has not resulted in the correction of the violation, the case must be sent to prosecution At this phase, the case will be going to Municipal Court to be resolved by a Judge. The prosecutor will be communicating with the individual from this point forward. 

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