New Search
8. Low LIABILITY. <br /> Current philosophy with the attorneys representing the city seems to be to place as much <br /> responsibility on the property owner as possible know fully that the city will get named in any <br /> lawsuit anyway. This argument supports the on -site facility with code language which states the <br /> occupant being responsible. <br /> Personally, I believe the City gets hung up on the argument of liability exposure too much. We <br /> expend much time an effort to reduce our level of exposure but don't spend much time in talking <br /> about what a reasonable level of exposure might be. As a policy we are unwilling to publicly <br /> take a risk. <br /> A good example is the public controversy we went through with the development of the Urban <br /> Forest Management Plan. There is a high degree of public desire to retain older mature trees. <br /> However, these are the very trees which cause the highest liability due to their bing close or into <br /> decline and will soon (0 to 5 years) start dropping limbs. The city takes the posture that we want <br /> the neighborhood values contributed by these trees and have done much to insist that we do the <br /> maintenance, but then we also move fairly quickly to cause a trees removal or to point at the <br /> abutting property owner as responsible for the trees maintenance if a lost limb causes property <br /> damage or worse. <br /> 9. POLITICALLY /INSTITUTIONALLYACCEPTABLE. <br /> I believe the on -site systems would meet the greatest level of acceptance by the general public <br /> for the reasons stated elsewhere herein. <br /> The business /development community likely would see this picture differently. <br /> 10. EQUITABLE. <br /> Keeping the public agencies involvement at a minimum and the responsibilities for management <br /> and maintenance as close as possible to the place the problem occurs is the most equitable. <br /> 11. EASY TO INSPECT/ENFORCE. <br /> A regional system maintained by the governing body is the easiest to inspect. With good policies <br /> and maintenance practices the maintenance personnel responsible perform their own inspection <br /> on an on -going basis as a part of their normal activities. <br /> 8 <br />