City adds enforcement to official duties

Jolena Mills has been named code enforcer for the city of Grand Coulee.

The city council added the code enforcement duties to her current work with the city's park department where she is on temporary assignment.

The council hopes that having a code enforcer will cut down on the number of complaints the city gets on people who violate city ordinances, mainly the nuisance ordinance.

The council also decided that it will look at making Mills' position as a city worker permanent as well as the code enforcement duties when it works on its 2016 budget.

Mills had barely been named as code enforcer when she started talking to residents to get their properties cleaned up to conform to city ordinances.

Mills said Tuesday that she has already started talking to people who are in violation of city ordinances about cleaning up their property.

"I plan to talk with people first, and then, if I need to, send them a formal letter requesting action," she stated.

Mills grew up in the area and is a 1979 graduate of Lake Roosevelt High School. She spent a number of years in Florida before returning to Grand Coulee last January.

She got the job of keeping the city's parks up, a temporary summer job.

But according to the council at its last meeting, the city wanted to add the code enforcer position to her park job.

It was pointed out at the council meeting that Mills is a self-starter and that the city would like to make her position full time.