Quality of Life Task Force  

Mayor Eldridge Hawkins, Jr. proudly announced the kick-off of the City of Orange Township’s comprehensive Quality of Life Initiative.  The program will officially begin during the second week of August 2008 and continue as a bi-weekly task force to monitor chronic maintenance, sanitation, fire, and crime prevention targets throughout the city’s neighborhoods.  What makes this campaign different from previous municipal clean-ups is three-fold: first, the program will place a greater emphasis on improving the inter-departmental coordination of the entire code enforcement network, second, the team will make regular field visits to the problem locations, and third, the program will use a “case management” approach to develop a customized solution for each problem site.  Most importantly, Mayor Hawkins will play an active role in the day-to-operation of the task force to oversee its implementation.

Orange has instituted this aggressive Quality of Life Program to strengthen and support its extensive Economic and Redevelopment efforts. The newly designed Quality of Life Task Force will be administered by a municipal task force comprised of the city’s Administration, Planning, Police, Fire, Public Works, and Community Services departments. While all of these offices have traditionally played a role in the Code Enforcement process, the coordination has been significantly enhanced by the addition of bi-weekly joint meetings to better define and execute the City’s response in all aspects of Code Enforcement.  The group will also coordinate its efforts with the Law Department to improve it ordinance structure, and the Orange Municipal Court to strengthen its prosecutorial preparedness.

The primary goals of the Quality of Life Task Force are to: augment citywide inspection coverage by improving the remediation rate for chronic violations; update Code Enforcement regulations; and address blighting influences throughout the city.  Some of the specific activities currently in progress include: intensifying the Warrant Execution process; escalating the response to illegal dumping and graffiti; improving neighborhoods near current development sites; providing additional training for Code Enforcement inspection staff in the use of case management techniques; improving the City’s property maintenance coverage on weekends; clarifying responsibilities issues between Code Enforcement, Police and Public Works departments; reviewing and amending existing ordinances to support code enforcement enhancement.

The Quality of Life Task Force will not dilute or interfere with normal code enforcement activities and personnel.  The objective of this initiative is to provide added organizational and technical support to intensify our existing efforts and significantly improve the effectiveness of our total combination of code enforcement resources. This is a synergistic approach to better utilize the resources already available to the city through current tax dollars.

The Quality of Life Task Force launched a pilot inspection tour on Wednesday, July 30, with a visit to the Walter G. Alexander Housing Project.  Led by Mayor Hawkins, the team conducted a comprehensive review of health, maintenance, and safety conditions at the location.  Substantial problems were identified for correction and follow-up.  This comprehensive inspection presented an opportunity for the Task Force members to establish operating procedures and abatement strategies for future tours.