Page 208 - N. Richland Hills General Budget

Legal

Top Goals and Objectives

Goal 1
Create of a Code Docket in Municipal Court: Create a Code docket in Municipal Court specifically dedicated to
achieving code compliance, which the City Council has identified as its main goal for the two most recent City
Council Retreats.

Objective City Council to adopt an ordinance that authorizes the municipal court judge to hear cases
involving zoning violations, substandard buildings, and nuisance abatement cases, and that outlines
a procedure for handling the cases in the Court.
Objective Eliminate the need for the City to pay separate filing fees and court costs for filing these cases in
County court, and provide a more efficient and expeditious process to address zoning and nuisance
violations that are not handled by criminal citation and/or through the Substandard Building Board.

Objective Expand penalty options for the civil cases to include injunctive relief, contempt, fines, and potential
incarceration (for the contempt charge), with fines for violations up to $1,000 per day, per violation.
Currently, the City Code of Ordinances only allows for $10 a day (if residential homestead), per
violation to be assessed, and can only be assessed by the Substandard Building Board.

Goal 2
City Charter Review: Conduct a thorough review and make recommendations for changes to the City Charter to
ensure compliance with local, state and federal laws and regulations.

Objective Work closely with the Charter Review Committee to review all Charter provisions to determine if
the provision as written supports current city operations or requires modifications.

Objective Review applicable state and federal laws for changes and updates to make the Charter provisions
consistent with federal and state laws.

Goal 3
Create Comprehensive Form Contracts Database: Create a comprehensive forms database for departments that
will significantly reduce the amount of time for review of contracts, leases, and other transactional documents.

Objective Work with city staff to create a forms database consisting of professional services agreements,
custom created contracts specific to the needs of certain departments, and pre‐approved contracts
that departments will be allowed to use with little or no additional legal review, as long as no
changes are required.
Objective Provide public works, parks, economic development, IT Solutions, and other departments as
needed, with the option to use form contracts and/or pre‐approved contracts to provide more
efficiencies in the contract review process.
Objective Complete contracts database project during FY2021 and assign contracts liaison(s) to each
department to receive training on the contracts process.

Goal 4
Roll Call Training for Public Safety Employees: Work with the Public Safety leadership to implement and establish
regular roll call training for front line public safety employees to ensure effective and efficient application of legal
processes and procedures.

Objective • Provide regular training for public safety employees on criminal enforcement, mitigation of
risk, and reduction of liability.

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