Sachse’s Neighborhood Services Division is looking to extend its duties beyond code enforcement of city ordinances.

Assistant City Manager Lauren Rose presented some updates to the division’s programming during the regular council meeting Monday, April 18.

The Neighborhood Services Division exists to protect the appearance and integrity of the Sachse neighborhoods.

In 2019, the department moved away from exclusively dealing with code enforcement, said Rose. It also coordinates environmental programs in the city, such as the X-treme Green Event.

“We’re a lot more than just code enforcement,” Rose said. “We are looking to engage in more programs with our neighborhoods and with our residents.”

Some of the programs the department is looking to launch include a neighborhood spotlight program, which would recognize different outstanding neighborhoods in the city, and a neighborhood partnership program, Rose said. 

She said she would appear before council in the summer, closer to the budgeting process, with specifics on what both programs might entail.

Additionally, the department is also looking at ways to make sure ordinances are up-to-date with appearance standards implemented by the city. 

Neighborhood Services is also looking at ways to beautify neighborhoods and maintain a quality appearance, said Rose. One program she said she hopes to implement is a neighborhood tool lending program for residents who may lack tools to maintain a neighborhood’s appearance.

“The idea of this program is that we would work to get donated tools and store them in a neighborhood tool shed,” Rose said. “We have reclaimed the old Senior Center bus and it would be a fine tool shed we could roll out to neighborhoods and lend them tools.”

For the full story, see the April 28 issue of The Sachse News.