Report 2015-134 Recommendation 11 Responses
Report 2015-134: Residential Building Records: The Cities of San Rafael, Novato, and Pasadena Need to Strengthen the Implementation of Their Resale Record Programs (Release Date: March 2016)
Recommendation #11 To: Novato, City of
Novato should develop formal written procedures for staff to follow up on property owners' correction of violations. These procedures should identify the method in which staff document in the database the violations identified during inspections and their actions to bring the property into compliance. In addition, the procedures should identify where within the database these documents should be kept as well as identify the protocol for ensuring that repeat violations are corrected in a timely manner.
6-Month Agency Response
The City has prepared formal, written differentiation between High and Low Priority Violations requiring corrections, which was previously provided in the May 23, 2016 response. A copy is also attached for this response.
Written procedures have been prepared for staff to identify prioritization of High and Low Priority Violations and required staff follow-up (see attached).
- Completion Date: August 2016
- Response Date: September 2016
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented
60-Day Agency Response
The City has prepared formal differentiation between High and Low Priority corrections, with those requiring a subsequent building permit included in the High Priority category (see Attachment 3). A "self-certification" has been added to the New Owner Card (see Attachment 4), allowing the buyer to certify that he/she will be responsible for correction of Low Priority items identified, or that these have been corrected by the former owner prior to transfer of the property.
Written procedures will be created in the next several weeks to identify expectations for staff follow-up on a property owner's correction of High Priority violations and for retention of the documents.
- Estimated Completion Date: July 2016
- Response Date: May 2016
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented
All Recommendations in 2015-134
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.