Jamestown’s newest code enforcement officers have received their certification and are working at “full speed.”

Crystal Surdyk, city director of development, provided an update on the department’s two new officers and their completed training during this week’s City Council work session.

“We’ve been working on moving some of the code cases from the two individuals that were doing all the code enforcement,” Surdyk said. “They’ve started to move some of those cases to the new code officers.”

In November, Surdyk provided members of the City Council’s Housing Committee with an update on the number of open code violation cases. At the time, she said there were nearly 1,000 open cases, which ranged from unregistered vehicles and junk and debris to high grass and condemned properties.

At that meeting, Surdyk praised Bronson Abbott and Ryan Richter, then the city’s only two certified code enforcement officers who had to shoulder the violations themselves since last April.

“I know I’ve been saying it, but they have just been crushing it,” she said of Abbott and Richter in November. “I’m very proud of the work they’ve done.”

At present, the city primarily handles code enforcement through a complaint-based process. Surdyk said the department does have the ability to run “targeted sweeps” throughout the city. However, due to the sheer number of cases, she said enforcement is currently complaint-based.

She also noted the “limited ability to bring cases into court” that has put a strain on the department. “They are extremely busy,” Surdyk said of the city’s four code enforcement officers.

During Monday’s work session, Councilman Randy Daversa, R-At-Large, asked Surdyk how enforcement and fines are handled once a violation is identified.

“It’s not as simple as first infraction, second infraction,” she responded. “It really depends on what the complaint is and what they observe and then the seriousness of it.”

She said the department tries to get compliance before anyone is taken to court.

Jamestown Mayor Kim Ecklund also noted that there’s a new city court judge on the bench. “There’s a learning curve down there as well,” she said.