Budget Q: More LCI Specialists Needed?

Will two more ​“neighborhood specialists” help cut down on blight, hold landlords accountable, and build trust in City Hall?

Or does New Haven need to rethink — and potentially overhaul — the structure of its anti-blight and housing-code-enforcement agency, before adding any more ​“generalist” positions to the city budget?

That debate rose to the fore during a Board of Alders Finance Committee review of the Livable City Initiative’s (LCI) proposed departmental budget for the next fiscal year.

The meeting was held in the Hillhouse High School auditorium on Sherman Parkway this past Thursday night. It marked the final public hearing and set of departmental workshops in the committee’s months-long review of Mayor Justin Elicker’s proposed $633 million general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2022 – 23 (FY23). If approved by the full Board of Alders, that budget would go into effect on July 1.

LCI Deputy Directors Cathy Schroeter and Mark Wilson showed up on behalf of the city’s code-enforcement and neighborhood-development arm Thursday night to make a pitch for the mayor’s proposed increase of LCI’s general fund budget by $112,947, from $839,564 to $952,511.

The bulk of that proposed departmental budget bump would come from the addition of two new neighborhood specialist positions, each at a general fund salary of $54,158.

Those are two of 25 new general fund jobs that the mayor has proposed adding to next fiscal year’s city budget. (Click here for a list of all proposed new general fund jobs, and here, here, here and here for previous Independent stories about some of those proposed new positions.)

Neighborhood specialists function as true ​“generalists” in the city’s anti-blight and housing code enforcement agency, city Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli told the committee alders.

They show up to community management team meetings once a month, build relationships with residents, and drive around their neighborhoods (organized by police district) on a daily basis to identify problem spots that one or more city agencies need to step in and address. 

The city website lists neighborhood specialists’ various job responsibilities as including working with fire prevention and LCI inspection staff to ​“identify, catalog, and track problem properties”; coordinating the ​“acquisition, demolition, property management, rehabilitation, disposition, etc. of assigned properties”; collaborating with housing developers, property managers, and city and state regulatory agencies; establishing and maintaining relationships alders, block watch groups, and other community institutions ​“to develop anti-blight strategies”; and monitoring the condition and ensuring the ​“proper maintenance of all vacant properties,” among other job responsibilities.

Schroeter said that the two new general-fund neighborhood specialist positions would help break up the largest police districts into more manageable chunks.

One would be assigned to the far east side of town, allowing the East Shore, Fair Haven Heights, and Quinnipiac Meadows to be broken up into two separate areas covered by two separate neighborhood specialists.

The other would allow Cedar Hill and Newhallville to be broken up into two areas, with one neighborhood specialist assigned to each.

“The areas are way too large for one neighborhood specialist to cover,” Schroeter said about both the current East Shore-Heights‑Q Meadows and the Newhallville-Cedar Hill areas.

Just to clarify, Board of Alders President and West River Alder Tyisha Walker-Myers asked, the city’s proposal to add two new neighborhood specialists to the general fund is based primarily on the geographic size and demands of the two areas the city wants to split?

“Yes,” Schroeter replied. ​“They’re so large, it’s very hard to be impactful in those areas.”

Job Responsibility: Community "Rapport"

Board of Alders Majority Leader and Amity/Beaver Hills Alder Richard Furlow pressed Schroeter on the exact responsibilities — and authorities — of neighborhood specialists.

How exactly do they spend their work days? Driving around their assigned neighborhoods, looking for problem spots?

“Yes, they’re in the neighborhood, driving around, contacting and communicating with businesses in the area, looking for blight,” Schroeter said.

She said they’re supposed to be ​“in the field all day, except for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.”

Can they issue fines? Furlow asked.

Schroeter said that LI’s anti-blight citations originate with neighborhood specialists, even though a deputy must ultimately sign off on such a citation. That citation functions not as a ticket, but rather as a lien against a property which is collected on when a property is sold or refinanced.

“I’m just trying to figure out why we need so many LCI [neighborhood] specialists compared to housing inspectors,” Furlow said, ​“when the LCI specialists are driving around, saying, ​‘This is a problem, that is a problem,’ but they have no ability to solve any issues.”

“Their focus is on blight and vacant properties,” Wilson said. He said that housing code inspectors focus on the safety and code compliance of occupied residential buildings — but they do not have purview over vacant buildings. Those vacant buildings ​“are inspected or overseen by neighborhood specialists.”

Wilson also stressed that neighborhood specialists build ​“a lot of rapport with people in the community” as a key part of their jobs. Some people, ​“before they call police or fire, they call a LCI neighborhood specialist” to let them know about a problem in the neighborhood, he said. ​“That’s the kind of rapport they build in the community.”

Why not simply hire more public space enforcement officers? Prospect Hill/Newhallville Alder Steve Winter asked. He said that often, when he refers a problem to his district’s neighborhood specialist, ​“they say it’s public space,” such as trash left on the curb or in the greenbelt.

The city currently has only two public space officers, Winter continued. ​“Why wouldn’t we increase public space enforcement” instead of hiring more neighborhood specialists?

Piscitelli said that LCI neighborhood specialists are ​“the real glue to make it work and effect change” in most neighborhoods ​“because of the relationships they build.” He and Wilson referenced an illegal rooming house on Minor Street, cluttered used car dealers on Adeline Street, and a ​“whole mess” on Essex Street that neighborhood specialists have helped get cleaned up thanks to their on-the-ground knowledge of their neighborhoods.

They’re the ​“eyes and ears of the city,” Piscitelli said. ​“They become the generalists that we don’t have” elsewhere in city government.

“I think we need to look at the role generally and how to provide them with more enforcement powers,” Winter replied, ​“to make sure that when someone goes out to enforce [city code], that they’re equipped to do what they need to do.”

He asked the LCI deputies to provide data to the committee chair on how many letters are written and how many civil citations are issued by neighborhood specialists in each part of the city. He said those numbers will be important to have as the alders deliberate on the Elicker Administration’s plan to break up the east side and Newhallville-Cedar Hill districts into two each — and to add two new neighborhood specialist positions to the general fund.

Why Not Rethink Police Districts, First?

Would it make more sense to assign an existing neighborhood specialist who covers one of the city’s smaller police districts to take on part of a larger district, East Rock Alder Anna Festa asked, instead of hiring for two new positions and breaking up those larger districts?

Piscitelli said that that gets at a ​“broader conversation about how we organize police and LCI together” in police districts. That conversation ​“may happen next year or the year after.”

“Why don’t we first determine police districts before adding neighborhood specialists?” Festa countered. Shouldn’t the city have a clearer understanding of the most appropriate geographical areas of coverage of neighborhood specialists before adding two more to the general fund?

“We need help in this group,” Piscitelli replied. ​“It is an overwhelming number of issues that are coming our way, and we are not serving the residents with our capacity” right now. Based on the number of neighborhood complaints that pile up on SeeClickFix and that LCI receives through phone calls to its office everyday, he added, there is a very real need for more city workers out in the field — attending to calls, coordinating city government responses.

Schroeter said that, in Fiscal Year 2017 – 18 (FY18), neighborhood specialists responded to 2,700 referrals for blight. In FY19, they responded to 3,200 such referrals. In FY20, they responded to 2,200. In FY21, because of a drop in calls and capacity due to Covid, they responded to 1,400.

“How are we tracking incoming calls?” Winter asked.

“It’s an issue right now,” Wilson replied. ​“We are overwhelmed and we are understaffed.” He said that LCI currently has only one staffer at the front desk taking calls. There are two administrative assistant positions currently vacant. The city is in the process of hiring for both.