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7C Page 3 Code enforcement of signage concentrates on educating and assisting the business community to achieve compliance. However, many in the business community believe that more and larger signage will produce more business. As well, staff has dealt with an increase in freestanding signs. These signs are permitted in the right of way in the Broadway Mall, and for real estate open house events, garage sale events, and noncommercial messages. The Broadway Mall is defined as equivalent to the Downtown Sidewalk Cafe Area and includes Broadway from EI Camino to Marshall and portions of Main, Jefferson, Middlefield, and Hamilton Streets from the railroad tracks to Marshall Street. Code enforcement staff is often told by some business operators that their efforts are neither appreciated nor appropriate during these difficult economic times. Staff remains sensitive to the concerns of the business community by suggesting more appropriate and better located signage. All code enforcement is a continuous process. Staff must periodically return to the same areas, businesses, and properties to ensure continued compliance. Staff finds that code enforcement efforts are much more effective when those efforts are conducted as part of a scheduled program rather than complaint driven. Specifying a concern or area for concentrated address by code enforcement staff, allows for timely intervention and correction. Volunteer Prooram - The Building and Inspection Division has benefited from the volunteered hours of over 100 participants in the past 20 years. Volunteers are typically interested in careers in the building inspection field and have connected with Redwood City staff instructing at seminars, colleges, professional organization meetings, and industry events. The volunteer experience ranges from participation on ride-alongs with building inspectors to one year full-time internships. Most interns/volunteers are interested in building regulation, not code enforcement. However, volunteers assisting with administrative matters (gathering data, record keeping, filing, processing doc~ments for imaging, etc.) in building inspection can free up the staff to devote more time to code enforcement. The City Attorney's Office and staff have studied volunteer programs in other cities. The best practices and preferred programs utilize trained volunteers in field surveys to identity possible violations. Follow-up, enforcement, and administration remains with City staff. The City has asked neighborhood associations, some board.s and commissions, and PACT participants if they were interested in volunteering for code enforcement. One person has volunteered within the past two years. Also in 2006/2007, funds resulting from a vacant Building Inspector position were used to employ a previous volunteer to work exclusively on code enforcement issues. Recently, a description of the code enforcement volunteer program was developed with Malcolm Smith, Community Communications Specialist in the City Manager's office with the intent of issuing a press release and conducting more widespread advertising of the program. (Please see Attachment 3) Volunteered time, after a period of initial training, will allow trained staff the additional time required to increase address of code enforcement issues. Next 8teos- Staff has focused on Downtown and signs on the major streets. The goal is to achieve compliance on signage and sidewalk cafe permits, as well as helping businesses to improve property maintenance. Staff from the building regulation program