City requires graffiti clean-up

The Woodstock City Code requires property owners to clean up graffiti promptly. In response to an inquiry, the City Manager's office advises that Section 4.9.1D of the Woodstock City Code addresses graffiti.

"Graffiti Removal: After written notice is given by the chief of police to the record owners of the property where graffiti is displayed, of the existence of graffiti, the graffiti shall be promptly removed. It shall be the duty of the chief of police to serve or cause to be served, such notice upon the owner or party in possession of any such object or structure upon which graffiti is present and to demand the abatement of the nuisance within five (5) days. All exterior surfaces shall be kept clean and free of graffiti. Surfaces which have been exposed to graffiti shall be cleaned, painted or in some manner covered, so as to effect the complete removal of the graffiti from that surface and return the surface to its prior condition within five (5) days of receipt of the violation notice to the owner unless extenuating circumstances prevent work from being done, in which case the chief of police may give an extension for the removal of graffiti. In the event the graffiti is not removed as provided herein, the city shall remove the graffiti and all costs incurred by the city shall be borne by the property owner. (Ord. 99-0-14, 3-16-1999)"

There is an interesting mix here between police powers and enforcement of the City Code.

Normally, the Woodstock Code Enforcement Officer handles non-criminal violations of the City Code. In most situations the Woodstock Police Department does not enforce the City Code regarding building violations (and numerous other Code violations, such as stored or inoperable vehicles, weeds, debris on property). It is curious to me that, in this case, the City Council chose to assign police authority to graffiti clean-up.

Failure to clean up graffiti from an exterior wall should not involve the police department. The police department should not be in the middle of this; rather, Code Enforcement ought to be the department addressing the clean-up with the property owner.

And, while it's desirable to have graffiti promptly removed from exterior walls of buildings, are five days really enough for a property owner to comply without the threat of correction and billing by the City? Ex., the wall repainting at Aldi probably involves a corporate decision somewhere to authorize the painting and then direction to a painting company to come to Woodstock and paint a large wall. Or will they merely paint over the graffiti and leave a wall with a square of painted surface in the middle that does not match the rest of the paint?