Evaluating Code Enforcement Services in Chautauqua County, NY

CGR is conducting a review of local code enforcement services in Chautauqua County, which builds on similar work conducted for Tioga County in 2020. Like Tioga County, Chautauqua County is facing constraints of an aging, often under-resourced code enforcement workforce and a range of local standards and practices, resulting in inconsistent code enforcement results across the county.

CGR was asked to examine how the county could better support code enforcement, including the option of county-run code enforcement and the possibility of a specialized code enforcement court that could expedite and standardize enforcement cases. We surveyed and met with Chautauqua County’s code enforcement officers and municipal leaders, analyzed state-level enforcement data, and interviewed code enforcement leadership from comparison counties to establish best practices.

CGR identified a range of options to pursue - from maintaining the status quo, to county background support for local enforcement, to county takeover of code enforcement duties – including possibilities for a specialized code enforcement court. In the final phase of the project, CGR will develop an implementation roadmap for the options that Chautauqua County chooses to pursue.

To learn more about code enforcement projects, contact Kieran Bezila. 

September 5, 2023 CGR Briefs Edition