By The Public Communications Office
In this episode of “What’s Up, College Station?” Marketing Coordinator Grace Hallowell and Code Enforcement Supervisor Tommy Shilling visit about the importance of move-out etiquette and avoiding city ordinance violations.
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Grace Hallowell:
What’s up College Station? I’m Grace Hallowell, and today I’m joined with Tommy Shilling, our code enforcement supervisor. Hi, Tommy.
Tommy Shilling:
Hello. Thanks for having me.
Grace Hallowell:
You’re welcome. And it is the springtime, we are wrapping up the semester for the year. And we had Caroline ask on not too long ago to talk about what you are supposed to do with your trash as you move out. And you’re kind of here to talk about what not to do when you’re moving out and how you can avoid getting a citation because that’s the last thing you want as you’re leaving town.
Tommy Shilling:
Yes, that is correct. Like you previously stated, so move in, move out is upon us. We have graduation this weekend. So what code enforcement is starting to see is a lot of accumulation of trash and open storage. So whenever you leave, if you’re residential, you can put it at the curb line for bulk pickup. Now that’s something that you do provide in sanitation. We’ll pick that up. What we’re starting to see is a lot of apartments. Unfortunately, they are multifamily and they don’t pay for that bulk pickup. So they’ll have to reach out to sanitation at 979-764-3690 and schedule a pickup because like I said, they are not afforded that pickup.
Grace Hallowell:
And yes, accumulation of trash is a big thing that you guys see, especially this time of year. So let’s talk a little bit about what that looks like and why you should not do that.
Tommy Shilling:
Yes. Well, as of right now, sanitation, they run around the clock, so it’s kind of hard.
Grace Hallowell:
They are very busy.
Tommy Shilling:
They are very busy. They’re starting at 4:00 in the morning and ending at 9:00 at night. And then unfortunately they have some trucks that are down from time to time. But just kind of be mindful, let them know that we do provide that service for you guys, just call them in advance, get on the schedule, and then they can come pick up your trash.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. And if you do happen to see in your neighborhood, there’s a house that might have a bit too much trash or there’s a lot of open storage like you said, how can someone go about reporting that?
Tommy Shilling:
Yes, that’s a great question. So the city has an app called SeeClickFix. It’s free, so you can download it on your phone. It has a GPS location. So say you have a neighbor that has tall weeds and grass and you can snap a photo, put in that address and tell them what the category is, so weeds and grass. The way it’s set up now, the system actually routes it straight to the code officer for that area. So yeah, we can hopefully get that taken care of shortly.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. And your team, everybody is assigned to a different area of the city and they are busy as well, along with our sanitation workers. They are always out there. So that’s why it’s important for residents to be a second set of eyes for the Code Enforcement officers. And the SeeClickFix app is a really easy way to do that. And it remains anonymous if you would like it too as well, right?
Tommy Shilling:
Yes, yes, that’s correct. It’s also it keeps a great line of communication between citizens and city staff. It’s not just the code cases that you can input. You can also put potholes, you can have dead trees, you can have all kinds of stuff that you can put a request into SeeClickFix, and it’s routed to other departments. So it’s a great tool to line of communication between citizen and staff.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. But we do ask that you keep it civil and don’t air out your dirty laundry on there. That’s not what it’s for.
Tommy Shilling:
Yes, it’s not a social media website. So if you kind of get out of hand, we will flag it and take that down. Because like I said, it’s not a social media website. So remember it’s a public forum to enter requests, but keep it civil.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. So this time of year, what other violations are you seeing as a common occurrence?
Tommy Shilling:
Oh, so right now, since it is spring, our number one violation right now is weeds and grass. So you can’t have grass and weeds that are over 12 inches in your yard. So we are starting to see that, especially with the heavy influx of rain that’s happened upon us for this past week.
Grace Hallowell:
Right. So that is important to get taken care of. And if you’re not responsible for your lawn, if you rent, definitely get that communication documented with your landlord that you’re trying, because you don’t want to get a citation for that.
Tommy Shilling:
You don’t want to hear that knock on the door from Code Enforcement or receive that door tag, for sure.
Grace Hallowell:
Right, right. Well thank you so much for joining me today, Tommy. This has been really helpful and we wish everybody the best, graduating or not, if you’re coming back next semester. Where can people find out more information? If they’re looking for more information on code enforcement?
Tommy Shilling:
You can go to the city’s website. We actually have a page that explains what Code does. You can look at the muni code, look up different that you might think they’re actual violations. You can actually look through there and kind of go through that. And then you can also call Code Enforcement if you ever have any questions at 979-764-6363.
Grace Hallowell:
All right, well thank you for joining me today.
Tommy Shilling:
Okay, thank you.
Grace Hallowell:
And that’s what’s up.
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