Darien Code Compliance To Be Beefed Up

DARIEN, IL — Unlike a lot of towns, Darien has no person whose sole job is code enforcement issues such as weeds, garbage containers, inoperable cars, RVs and rundown properties. But that's about to change.

On Tuesday, the City Council voted to enter an agreement with independent contractor Karyn Byrne to handle code enforcement.

Historically, the city planner has devoted part of his duties to code enforcement, but that works out to about 12 hours a week on average. That means the city is reacting to calls about issues, but not going around town to find violations, according to city documents.

Under the agreement, Byrne is expected to work about 20 hours a week at $40 an hour and $50 an hour during holidays, weekends and at night. She has been involved in the city's more complex cases over the years.

According to a city study, Darien falls short of some suburbs on how many hours it devotes to code enforcement. Neighboring Westmont, which is similarly sized, employs two full-time code enforcement officers. And Downers Grove, which is double Darien's population, also has two full-timers.

With the change, Darien will have more time designated to code enforcement than both Hinsdale and Willowbrook, according to the study. Willowbrook hires a consultant for code enforcement, but that person has no regular hours. And Hinsdale devotes an average of 12 hours a week to code enforcement.

Now, city employees do not have the ability to be "proactive" with code compliance, according to a city memo.

"The strategy of the (community development) department is now to shift focus to a more proactive versus reactive nature of code compliance," the memo said.

In an interview, Alderman Joe Kenny said the new system should be better for residents. Many code enforcement actions now are in response to the complaints that aldermen receive from residents, he said. But he said the problem with that is one alderman may take up an issue with City Hall while another may turn a blind eye.

"If you have one person doing the job, it's more consistent," Kenny said.

Byrne's contract is set to start May 1. The proposed annual spending on the contract is $41,600.