Can you believe we are in June?  With warmer weather and those afternoon thunderstorms that keep us all on our toes, that sun and rain brings a seasonal issue to Fountain:  WEEDS! They are everywhere and a challenge to control.  

For the city, matters of enforcement of our codes related to weeds and other items falls on our Neighborhood Services Department, and Code Enforcement.   To say they have a difficult job is an understatement.  Currently, Fountain only has two code enforcement officers, and is advertising to hire a third.   That’s just a couple of officers to cover over 20 square miles, thousands of residences and hundreds of businesses.  Our dedicated code enforcement team handle between 30-70 calls for service per week, with the vast majority, over 95% of them, coming directly from residents.  These calls often deal with a variety of things, including:

Inoperable vehicles

Junk in yards

Weeds

Animal complaints

Building code violations

Construction code violations

Home based business standards

Unauthorized motor vehicle use in parks

Homeless encampments

Vehicles being used as dwellings and

Assistance to the Police Department, Fire Department and other county public safety organizations.

This is a long list, but this is not even all of it!  Truly our code enforcement officers have a very demanding job, with many of these calls taking many hours each to investigate, document, track and resolve.  So, you may wonder at this point, how can we help?  What can Fountain residents do to assist our code enforcement officers and help keep our community safe, clean and appealing?  Well, we can do our part to take good care of our private properties, keep our own yards and areas clean, cut the weeds in our own yards (all the way to the gutter), and help our neighbors if they need help doing these things as well.  That said, if you do think you need to report a problem, the city has the MYFOUNTAIN app, My Fountain - City of Fountain (fountaincolorado.org), you can download it on both apple and android, and it's an easy way to submit a call for service.    Let's work together to keep Fountain looking like the All-America, strong community we are, where everyone feels like they are home. 

Thank you, code enforcement, for the work you do, primarily in your tireless efforts to contribute to everyone’s public safety and health.  If you have any questions about neighborhood services, the city would be happy to speak with you, and of course you can always contact our Council Members or myself at [email protected].