The Independence Neighborhood Code Compliance Program (NCCP) is one of 45 city programs from across the country chosen as a finalist for the National League of Cities (NLC) 2010 Awards for Municipal Excellence. The Awards for Municipal Excellence recognize cities and towns for outstanding programs that improve the quality of life in America’s communities.

City Manager Robert Heacock said the NCCP was created in response to citizens’ desire for a pro-active rather than complaint-driven code enforcement system. Prior to this program, nearly all code enforcement action was in response to complaints.

“The NCCP fosters unique partnership opportunities between residents and city government,” Heacock said. “It breaks down the traditional complaint-driven, neighbor vs. neighbor code enforcement approach, and replaces it with a system that encourages ownership responsibility, volunteerism, and confidence in the city.”

“We are pleased that Independence is a finalist for our Awards for Municipal Excellence,” said Donald J. Borut, NLC’s Executive Director. “This shows that even at a time when so many cities are struggling financially, cities and towns continue to develop the most creative and innovative solutions.”

NLC received nominations from cities and towns in 40 states. Finalist programs exhibited exceptional public-private partnerships, productive citizen and community collaborations, management of municipal resources, implementation of government policies, project implementation with tangible results and/or the ability to replicate the project in other cities.

Through the NCCP, the Code Compliance Division partners with neighborhood areas and through education, teambuilding, and financial assistance is able to help make neighborhoods healthier and safer places to live. The program consists of engaging citizens in a neighborhood meeting, identifying individual property violations in the neighborhood, providing the citizens in that neighborhood a free cleanup and following up with a re-inspection.

Health Director Larry Jones said the entire process is done in the spirit of collaboration and cooperation rather than the typical enforcement approach.

“Independence is fortunate to have such an outstanding program as the Neighborhood Code Compliance Program (NCCP) where the citizens and City staff can work together in a non-threatening manner to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods,” Jones said. “So far, this program has removed 2.75 million pounds of trash and brush from the targeted neighborhoods.”

Code Compliance Manager Andrew Warlen said that since the inception of the NCCP, the City has worked with citizens to remove trash and brush from 12,498 addresses in 37 neighborhoods.

Demand is high, but due to inclement weather during winter months the program is not conducted year-round. Cleanups are held monthly from April to November. The typical NCCP year takes the program to eight neighborhoods, each averaging between 300 and 400 properties.

“By simply advising citizens of violations and providing a free clean-up, compliance has risen from 57 to 89 percent,” Warlen said. “The remaining 11 percent were addressed after each cleanup through the standard Code Compliance process, with every effort made to provide extensions or other assistance.”

The winners of the 2010 Awards for Municipal Excellence will be announced during NLC’s Congress of Cities and Exposition in Denver, Colo., November 30 – December 4, 2010. Independence is the only city in Missouri or Kansas among the finalists.

More information about the Awards for Municipal Excellence can be found on the NLC website at www.nlc.org/ame.aspx.