From the Round Table: City inspectors should mimic police enforcement standards

KAB-278, the Columbia-Boone Joint Communications radio station, crackles with excitement on a weekend evening. Although not exactly the same as a “calling all cars” sequence in an old movie, the pace for Joint Comm’s dispatchers a few hours around midnight gets pretty hectic.

The calls deal with the usual stuff: traffic accidents, downtown hooliganism, domestic disturbances and noise complaints. Lately, there’s a new category — disorderly disturbances in residential neighborhoods that used to be quiet places.

To some 9-1-1 callers, the response by dispatchers is something like, “Take a number, we’ll get there as soon as possible but we’re backed up for now,” or “It may be an hour or two before we can respond.” Responsibilities are shared by the Columbia Police Department and the Boone County Sheriff, and scanner listeners sense a great deal of scooting around in the wee hours of the morning.

Some of the calls are to the perimeters of the MU campus. Blame it all on John Barleycorn. Several years ago, the University of Missouri decided to push the alcohol “problem” off campus. Drinking was forbidden on campus, including the residence halls, and this Draconian edict came down hard on several dozen university-sanctioned fraternity and sorority houses. (There are a few notable exceptions we’re all familiar with, such as the Reynolds Alumni Center and Mizzou Arena.)

Now there’s a category of off-campus residential units that in recent years has grown in popularity: the “party annex.” Members of a particular fraternity or sorority rent a house, duplex or apartment in a residential area. Proximity to the main fraternity or sorority “house” makes it the place to go for drinking and partying not permitted in Greek Town. Compounding the problem, landlords are squeezing more people into the residential units than the law allows.

Although Joint Comm by night dispatches its constabulary to respond to the complaints about noisy parties, another municipal agency seems to be rather blasé about administering city codes relative to how many people are allowed to live in a particular structure.

It’s all about Protective Inspection. The division of the city’s public works department ordinarily gets its share of harpooning by the contracting community for its otherwise laudable efforts to enforce various building codes and regulations. But Protective Inspection has shown a weakness in the enforcement of a city code stipulating that no more than three unrelated people may occupy a home in neighborhoods zoned R-1, residential single-family.

Neighbors concerned about the value of their properties, their safety and the welfare of their children have become more vigilant, even to the point of hiring private investigators to check the occupancy of houses. There’s plenty of evidence that the code is being violated, including a surfeit of vehicles, multiple names on mailboxes and visual evidence that the house has become a hotel.

The neighbors file a complaint with Protective Inspection, which compels a city employee to arrive at the front door of the suspected violator and ask about the habitation. The person who responds can simply produce the magic answer, “Three are living here,” so the matter is mooted as more pressing commands from City Hall take over.

Now we’re back to Friday or Saturday night. Not so readily brushed off is the Columbia Police Department. With new marching orders to enforce city ordinances, its officers are forthright and earnest. Noise is noise, as measured in decibels, and obnoxious behavior can be easily ticketed.

Officers called to a “party annex” tell the students they’ve earned a $500 fine for their behavior and warn them that the fine will double if they’re called back to the house. Isn’t a grand a lot of money for one noisy, disorderly party that kept the neighbors awake?

Toss some bouquets to the Columbia Police Department for clamping down, and heave the brickbats at Protective Inspection for its failure to uphold occupancy limitations in residential neighborhoods.