The Ames Police Department will be aiding city inspection officials in efforts to step up enforcement of occupancy limits in homes throughout Ames.

Ames Police chief Loras Jaeger said he has volunteered the investigative skills of his officers to aid the city’s campaign of stricter enforcement.

Jaeger said his officers will be “collectors of information.” That information will then be turned over to inspection officials. He said the task would not be an extra burden for the officers.

“When [officers] are out there seven days a week, 24 hours a day, they do have some free time where they can look into some of these areas where we are having some specific complaints,” he said.

In the past, the city’s policy has been one of abatement. Housing inspectors would work with residents and landlords of over-occupied houses to get the number of residents down to zoning limits.

In the past, the city of Ames assessed citations and fines only if residents and landlords did not take measures to reduce the number of people in a house, said Ames City Manager Steve Schainker at a recent City Council meeting.

Beginning Nov. 1, city officials will immediately administer citations and fines to all over-occupied houses.

Ames City Clerk Diane Voss said tenants and landlords found to be in violation of the over-occupancy limits have three weeks or until the end of the current month — whichever is longer — to fix the problem, providing the notification period is not in conflict with the landlord/tenant act.

With the new policy, emphasis will shift from abatement to aggressive enforcement. Jeff Pearson, building official, said citations will be given to both occupants and landlords of over-occupied residences.

Pearson said there will be a $500 fine assessed to both residents and landlords for a first offense and a $750 fine for each additional occurrence.

The inspections department acts on complaints of over-occupancy by citizens, he said. It is only after a complaint has been levied against the residence that the police begin investigating.

Jaeger said there are a number of ways for his officers to determine if a residence has too many occupants, including recording license plate numbers of vehicles parked at a residence, gathering information from neighbors and talking to residents themselves.

Stricter enforcement of occupancy standards was prompted by resident complaints, particularly from neighborhoods in the Campustown area.

At neighborhood meetings arranged by the city of Ames on Sept. 19 and Sept. 25, residents complained of problems with parking, speeding, parties, vandalism and littering they believed were linked to the city’s failure to aggressively enforce occupancy limits.

Jaeger said he believes stricter enforcement of occupancy standards will help eliminate some problems residents are seeing. He said he believes the new aggressiveness will have a positive impact on the entire community.

“I think it will help resolve some of the neighborhood conflict that’s going on,” Jaeger said. “What we are interested in is having cohesive neighborhoods that work together to solve neighborhood problems. If this problem can be addressed, it will really invigorate those neighborhoods and make them a better place for everyone to live.”