Enforcing the code, but not tracking violations

I've been dealing with the Cedar Rapids Code Enforcement Division a lot over the past two weeks, and let's just say it's been a revelation.

I wanted a list of the 50 properties with the most code violations over the past five years for a story I'm working on about landlords, and I asked if the department could produce that list.

Answer: No.

The Code Enforcement division runs antiquated software that doesn't allow for sorting the way an Excel file does, so I had to come up with a list of addresses I wanted to look at, ask department staff to pull the files, and then look through them one by one. The files themselves are only marginally helpful, because they only go back to the last inspection. So the entire history of a property -- it's record of abiding by the code -- is, as far as I can tell, in a landfill somewhere.

So I asked John Riggs, the assistant building official, to give me a list of the properties inspectors are most interested in -- kind of a short list of properties under special scrutiny. He and I had discussed this the day before, that the department had such a list. He said no, he couldn't give it to me, he first had to check with city attorneys.

Sensing that I was getting the runaround, I wrote Riggs an e-mail saying I would drop off a Freedom of Information request on Monday if I hadn't heard from him by then. Monday, I got an e-mail from Riggs' boss Matt Widner saying no way they would give me such a list. Later in the day, on the phone, Widner and city spokeswoman Cassie Willis both said no such list exists. Widner said it's information the inspectors carry around in their heads, but never commit to paper for the express purpose of never having to release it under freedom of information law. The problem with such a list, Widner said, is that it may seem like inspectors are targeting certain landlords or contractors.

So now my FOI request is drifting on the waves of city beauracracy, as the code enforcement division denies it even has the list I asked for.

Meanwhile, the city is working to get new software for the code enforcement division to be able to share information more effectively with police and other city departments. It's called "land management" software, it's expensive, and it's a priority for the city, Willis said.

"It's a big deal. Larger cities use this kind of a system," Willis said. "We're behind the times."