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This report examines and compares statistics which indicate program effectiveness and <br />performance in 1996, with statistics from previous years and will address any significant changes. <br />The effectiveness of the program will be evaluated and whether or not it's goals are being met. <br />Attached is a chart summarizing program statistics for the last five years (Table 1) and a summary <br />identifying the origin of all 1996 service requests.(Table 2) Also attached are breakdowns of all <br />enforcements by violation type, and breakdowns of program billing charges and contractor <br />payments. <br />The five year summary is of interest when looking for trends in the program. The statistics <br />indicate a fairly consistent number of service requests and enforcement notices sent in the last five <br />years. The number of abatements have dropped slightly in 1996, compared to the previous <br />years. (Figure 1.) These trends indicate that the goals of the program are being met. <br />Due to development activity, the acreage of vacant property administered by the vegetation <br />program has decreased. However, the number of individual lots on this acreage has increased due <br />to lot partitions and subdivisions. Thus, the number of individual property owners with which the <br />program communicates cutting requirements has remained about the same. This development <br />activity has resulted in an increase in situations where new houses are adjacent to undeveloped <br />property with the potential threat of fire, if grass and weeds are not cut. A continued public <br />awareness and education of vegetation control requirements, and program consistency in <br />enforcement of vegetation related violations of the municipal code, has resulted in the need for <br />fewer abatements. <br />The program is now under the supervision of the Urban Forester. This move was a logical re- <br />organization, placing the program into a work section which deals with many related issues. In <br />the past, issues involving suspected hazardous trees located on private property were inspected by <br />both the Vegetation Inspector and then the Urban Forester. The Vegetation Inspector has been <br />trained in these inspections and now inspects these complaints. The Urban Forester's opinion is <br />requested in cases where the determination of hazard rating for the tree is difficult, or the <br />complainant questions the determination. <br />The Vegetation Program Specialist assists the Urban Forestry section in answering phone calls, <br />permit issuance, code development and review, and field inspections of private and public trees. <br />Due to the increased workload in Urban Forestry, two summer assistants were hired instead of <br />one. The second assistant spent half of their time on Urban Forestry issues and half for vegetation <br />issues in order to allow the Vegetation Program Specialist to spend more time on Urban Forestry <br />issues. <br />