Tackling blight in Ceres is a monumental job with homeless camps, public nuisances, property violations, substandard housing and illegal vending taking place what seems everywhere. The task belongs to the city’s Code Enforcement unit.

Just how much they have to deal with was apparent in an hour-long ride-along with Jack Taylor, one of the city’s three Code Enforcement officers under the umbrella of the Ceres Police Department.

Taylor had in hand a two-page case log summary of the cases he’s worked on over the past months. Most of them were complaints called into the city by neighbors, ranging from a neighbor running a food service business out of his garage on Bougainvillea Drive in Eastgate to weekend incidents of backyard trash burning on Willow Lake Way.

Clearly, the number of cases outnumbers the personnel limited by city budget constraints.

“We could use probably five officers,” said Taylor, a retired Modesto Police officer.

Angie Martinez, who came on board over a year ago, and Jeff Varney, a veteran of five years, round out the Code Enforcement team.

Last week the unit was temporarily handicapped without a secretary to handle the copious amounts of generating reports and mailing out notices of violations. Lauren Medina left that post to go into real estate but the city is in the process of hiring her replacement.

Adding to the unit’s workload in recent months is the business of taking on the numbers of carports which are in violation of city ordinance.

On a computer screen in the unit’s office on the second floor of the Ceres Police Department building, Taylor displayed a map pinpointing about 75 addresses where owners are being compelled to comply and remove carports.

“They’re everywhere in the city,” noted Taylor who noted that he is finding “very good compliance” after carport owners are notified to remove them. Carports per se are not illegal in Ceres but most are in violation since they encroach into the setback area.

Enforcing the code often results in citizens becoming irate and cussing out Taylor but he said things haven’t escalated to an assault level.

“God help them (if that happens),” said the 6-foot-5 officer.

More often than not, Taylor hears “don’t you guys have anything better to do?” when they are visited. Especially from the property owners being told they need to take down their carports which fail to meet the legal setback.

“That rubs people the wrong way and I get it because ‘hey, it’s my property, how can you tell us we can’t do this?’ We tell them this is in the law and we’re enforcing the law. We tell them our goal as Code Enforcement is to fix the blight in the city, whatever that’s identified as. To me, it’s from the freeways in, people’s perception of our city as they come into the city. What’s their first impression of our city? Is it a great place to start a business or is it there are a bunch of camps and we’re getting back on the freeway and heading to Modesto.”

Taylor also hears resistance when telling folks they can’t park vehicles on the front lawns.

“People take that personally and they have excuses.”

One of the more widespread violations difficult to enforce is residents failing to wheel their garbage cans out of public view on days garbage isn’t being collected.

“My goal is compliance so I don’t go out there with a ticket book and say you’re in violation and you get a ticket. It’s like how can we work with you? What’s the problem? A lot of times you’ll have a person that has lost a family member. Why is your house looking dumpy? Why isn’t your trash being picked up? And they’re dealing with something and then you can start working with them a little bit but it’s all kind of about getting their story and getting compliance.”

He has cited when people leave their cans at the curb just to reserve the spot for their own household parking.

Taylor also has door hangers that he’ll leave as a warning about leaving cans out. That often leads to a 75 percent compliance rate.

From time to time, Code Enforcement deals with residences which have significant health and safety code violations. They can include electrical, water, sewer and garbage service shut off to lack of heating and hot water, filthy living conditions, hording and infestation of rodents or insects.

One example, Taylor cited, was a family burning candles for lighting since their electric bill wasn’t paid.

Often there is a judgement call to make – red tag the structure and evict the occupants – or be flexible.

“We’ve had several cases where you have this quandary. There was one before Christmas that they didn’t have water. It was red-taggable but definition which means evict them out of there but it’s Christmas and where are they gonna go? So we actually just said this is the best place for them right now and just stay on top of that case. They owed a bunch on their water bill. They finally got their bill paid off and got the water turned on without kicking them out of their house.”

Taylor has to temper his compassion with realities of liability in the event of leaving unsafe inhabitation.

“Leaving them there could be a risk too? So we kind of gauge what’s the best option.”

For about an hour Taylor drove me around, showing me his first order of the morning is to seek out homeless camps.

A valuable tool in combatting vagrancy, begging and camping in commercial shopping centers and parking lots are what’s called the 602 “no trespassing letter.” When signed by the center owner or manager, it gives the city the authority to run out undesirables.

“When I started here two and a half, three years ago there were tents throughout the city in parking lots and empty lots and stuff like that.

“It’s been very effective and we’ll go as far as to arrest if we have to.“

Taylor said the last resort to handle repeat violators is to call a police officer to make an arrest.

When complaints come in about a neighbor’s grass getting too tall, Taylor says he will force compliance if growth is more than two feet. Sometimes he can cite based on backyards being an attraction for rodents and vectors as well as an impending fire hazard in hotter and drier months.

In times when a violating household doesn’t answer the door, the unit will send out a courtesy notice to landlords or owners informing them of a violation.

Officers can re-inspect and ensure there has been an abatement.

Taylor’s unit doesn’t typically get involved with abandoned vehicles since the city has a unit for that – except if people are living in one and illegal camping is his issue.

In dealing with homeless persons, Code Enforcement works closely with the CARE team, a county consortium designed to get the unhoused into substance abuse treatment programs and transitional housing.

Taylor rolled into a Hatch Road shopping center, tucked out of view west of Cost Less Foods, to check on vagrants. It’s been a trouble spot where one taqueria owner regularly has the unpleasant task of hosing down the vomit and human feces left on the sidewalk and parking lot by the drugged out and/or homeless persons who camp there overnight. Taylor reported that sometimes they sleep in the dumpster and on the side of the restaurant.

Taylor insists that the 602 letter has made tremendous impact in that enclave of businesses.

“This place was like four camps a day easy, probably eight people you would have to deal with a day and the 602s are what changed that. If they’re out here they will get arrested. If I know them I’ll give them a chance to get out of here but if they give me any mouth at all, I just have an officer could out here and cite them. It’s a misdemeanor cite but they turn quickly into an arrest warrant if they don’t address them.”

As he rolled behind a building a large unsightly pile of garbage was pulled onto the ground from a dumpster, likely due by a homeless person rummaging for materials or products to salvage.

As he made his way to Independence Park – a mecca for the homeless just two years ago due to its somewhat secluded location – he pointed out all the vehicles being parked on grass. The municipal code states vehicles must be parked over paved surfaces.

A common excuse is that parking on the street makes the car prone to break-ins or getting hit by a car. Compounding the problem of parking on grass is the housing shortage is causing more homes to be occupied by more than one family – and cars – than R-1 (single family residential) zones are intended.

“A normal two-car family is now a five-car family because you have older children living at home longer and parking wasn’t designed that way.”

As Taylor scanned Independence Park, he was happy to see it was freshly mowed and free of vagrants.

“It’s not perfect but the improvements over the last two years have been dramatic. The park looks nice.”

Surveillance cameras installed on light poles are also helping keep an eye on parks for homeless encampments or areas prone for illegal dumping activities.

Regarding pop-up food vendors, Taylor said he will cite. In one case repeated warnings were issued to a vendor on Herndon.

“I took pictures of their license plates and we’re teaming up with the health and safety board and they’re gonna go out. They actually have the power to confiscate their equipment if they don’t comply. We’ll get compliance.”

One such food vendor has recently appeared on Saturdays, setting up in the dirt lot between Dutch Bros and 7-Eleven. Since the property owners (Public Storage) signed the 602 letter the city can run them out as trespassers or face arrest.

Rolling past Dutch Bros, Taylor noted how the homeless like to camp and hang out on the west side of the abandoned Kmart building and at times have awaited coffee shipments and stole them.

In front of the old Kmart Taylor stopped to speak to a disheveled man looking down at his phone. The man wasn’t too eager to talk and was asked if he made contact with the CARE team and shook his head no. He indicated he was local and that was the end of the conversation. Taylor is not a sworn officer.

According to Taylor, the CARE team is effective in reducing the homeless but the number ever so slowly.

“Getting five people off the street in a year doesn’t sound impressive, or three people into housing, it’s not a lot but they work their butts off. Otherwise you’re just playing Whack-a-Mole pushing these people around. They’re kind of like a lifeline for us. They’re a nice tool to have.”

Before Taylor and his fellow code enforcers make contact with homeless individuals being confronted, they radio in their location and sometimes officers will swing by to check on the scene.

On the dead-end portion of Herndon Road behind the Meineke Car Care Center and Starbucks, Taylor spied two camp tents in the road. He knew who the folks were without seeing them – a woman named Michelle and boyfriend Sammy.

He called her name and her hand parted the flap just enough to peek out at Taylor.

“You guys have been out here a long time today,” Taylor told her. It was close to 10:30 a.m. “We’re fixing to move,” she replied and then launched into a tirade about her partner mixing up belongings. He had gone somewhere to take a shower, she explained.

“I like you guys but I’ve got a responsibility to these people too,” Taylor tells her. “I’m getting tons of complaints.”

Her answer: “Alright, I’ll let him know when he gets back that we need to move today. Not tonight, today.”

Taylor announced that he’d be back later to “check” on them.

“We’re getting in a trailer today,” she promised. “We’re getting off the street today.”

“Okay, well, hang in their kiddo. I’ll tell you the first day I come out here and I don’t see you, I’ll miss you but I’ll be happy for you. When you guys get right you guy have to find me and buy me a doughnut.”

“Okay. I’ll buy you a couple.”

As he drove off Taylor noted how the woman and her companion Sammy are now going to a methadone clinic.

“I know what she’s going through so I can usually get them voluntary compliance in five or six hours.”

His return could bring a threat to take the tents away or he’ll seize it.

The couple, he has observed, both have drug addictions and a dysfunctional relationship that includes a lot of quarreling. Taylor has been dealing with them since he took the job, noting how they’ll disappear for a time and move around before eventually pushing their luck by camping closer to services on Hatch Road.

“If you stay on top of them, even if it’s a matter of saying, ‘Hey, you can’t be here, you gotta move,’ they kind of get tired of the constant movement. Those two right there built a full structure with spare wood he found and dragged back there. They would have had a two-bedroom condo built if we let it go.”

While Taylor builds a rapport and tries to have a gentle approach, he also is known for being “a jerk.”

Taylor, like many others tasked for dealing with homeless encampments throughout the state, admits: “I don’t know what the answer long term for these people is.”

“When you get to know these people and you realize that they’re just damaged people, you have to enforce the law but you want to have something where you can say, ‘Hey, I’m gonna send you to rehab. They wait a few days to get into rehab and then they get lured back into doing drugs again.”

Taylor hopes the state’s new CARE court system will force more people into mandatory treatments.

Our ride-along ended with a visit to a Magnolia Street property across from the Community Center where a deep lot has been filled with a variety of unpermitted and therefore illegal ADUs, or accessory dwelling units. All were visible along the alleyway running between Magnolia and Whitmore Avenue. Next to that, Taylor found the neighbor with a broken down section of fence exposing a large pile of debris and another illegal structure.

They are more jobs for an already busy man.