City View: Introducing: The City’s Office of Neighborhood Services

You might have heard that the city is creating a new department — the Office of Neighborhood Services. This office will bring staff and resources together in one place to address code enforcement issues, strengthen neighborhoods and team those efforts with volunteers.

What you might not know is that the budget impact of this new office is minimal because all but one half-time position represents current staff members who are simply moving from other departments.

Ten current employees from six departments will staff the Office of Neighborhood Services. These employees bring 114 years of experience to the program. Initial staff members include Neighborhood Response Coordinator Bill Cantin; police officer Tim Thomason; prosecutor Rose Wibbenmeyer; Environmental Health Specialist Marsha Perkins; building inspectors Brenda Canaday, Bruce Martin and John Rogers; Administrative Support Specialist Julie Giboney; and Volunteer Program Assistant Debra Hardin. Formerly the city’s volunteer coordinator, I will now serve as ONS manager.

The Office of Neighborhood Services will be housed in the old Fire Station 7 at 3601 S. Providence Road and should be open for business around the first of the year. Our responsibilities include enforcing rental housing compliance, code enforcement in cooperation with the Health and Public Works departments, the Neighborhood Response Team, the city’s neighborhood recognition program, graffiti abatement and the city’s volunteer and giving programs.

ONS aims to be a resource for citizens who are concerned about neighborhood issues and a partner in fostering neighborhood leadership. Staff will work toward a clean and healthy environment and safe housing for residents throughout the community. We will serve as a conduit between residents and local government resources. We will seek positive relationships with citizens through problem solving, leadership development and a variety of giving and volunteer opportunities.

The ONS office will have a number of tools to achieve its goals: enforcement, citizen education and volunteer opportunities. Each of these elements has been in place at some level in the past, but bringing together staff from different areas of city government will strengthen these programs. For example, code enforcement previously done by three different departments can now be handled in one place with the goal of a quick response and solution.

Some other specific ways the Office of Neighborhood Services can serve as a resource to residents include:

• answering questions about rental compliance for owners and tenants,
• addressing property maintenance issues for you or your neighbors,
• helping develop new neighborhood organizations,
• sharing ideas for activities to strengthen all neighborhoods,
• referring neighborhood issues as appropriate,
• connecting to the Police Department to help with crime prevention activities, including Neighborhood Watch,
• providing valuable volunteer opportunities throughout local government.

The Neighborhood Services staff is interested in building a relationship with citizens, and we want to hear from you. We want to attend neighborhood and community meetings so we can learn more about the needs of residents and they can learn about us.

In the coming months, more online tools will be developed so residents can share their observations regarding potential code enforcement issues. The office already has a home on the city’s Web site at www.GoColumbiaMo.com. We can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected] or by calling 874-7504.