Karen Pateos — City Planner IV
Meeting up with Karen was not easy. It required a long walk in the coldest, snowiest day of this winter season so far. By the time we got inside Pots and Pans I thought my fingers and ears were about to fall off. Karen seemed unphased by the frigid conditions and was smiling ear to ear. She was happy to be having some of her favorite food in one of her favorite Akron locations. Karen has a habit of finding fun and joy even in a task that others might deem onerous, such as meeting up with a Mayor’s office employee in the freezing cold for an interview. As a City Planner, Karen finds fun in her work even though her job duties can get quite difficult. For her, it’s all about helping our city thrive and what could be more fun than that?
- What does your job entail?
A whole bunch of everything (laughing). I’ve been with the City for 19 years now. I mainly deal with zoning complaints. In terms of zoning violations, it can run the gamut from just sending a “courtesy” letter to assessing fines. I work closely with the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals. They are bodies appointed by the Mayor. I draft recommendations (reports) and present the Planning Staff’s recommendations to them in monthly meetings. We deal with the public a lot; answering calls from residents with questions. I started in Recreation a long time ago as a part time employee. I was a Site Director for the softball leagues at Cascade Valley. I took the test for Planner I and it was 30 men and me. I ended up scoring the highest and I’ve been doing this ever since.
2. What is your favorite part about your job/working for the city of Akron?
I love my coworkers. They make coming into work fun. Also I think people think zoning is cut and dry but there’s always situations that arise that require us to think creatively for a solution and I find that really interesting and rewarding when we figure it out. I enjoy working with the public. It’s always something different.
3. Why did you pick Pots and Pans to meet?
I love this place! It’s great food and I like supporting local business. I’ve never had a bad meal here.
4. What are some of your hobbies or what do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I’m a big fan of golf. I have a goal of hitting a golf ball in every state. I try to get out to Mud Run a lot. I used to play competitive softball for 30+ years. I’ve also been involved with CASA, which is a program through the Summit County Juvenile Court, for the last 3 years as a court appointed special advocate for abused and neglected children. That’s been a really eye-opening experience. Beyond that, I do like to travel. My favorite places so far were Hawaii and London.
5. What is your proudest accomplishment while working for Akron?
I’m probably most proud of the way that we try to work with people. Whether it is someone looking to build, or a resident who was inadvertently breaking the zoning code, we try our best to work with everyone. I think people sometimes have this impression that we just want their money and we are looking for any excuse to assess people and make them pay fines but really we just want to make sure everyone is safe and we are making our city look as nice as possible. All of us live in the city. We don’t have to, but we do. I think it’s important. We all really want to see our city thrive and to help people.
6. Where do you get most of your complaints from? Do you go out and find issues yourself or get them from other residents?
It’s pretty equal between 3–1–1 calls and then calls directly to our office. We don’t go driving around looking for issues. If we happen to see them while we are out and they are egregious then yeah I’ll send a letter, but really it comes from other residents who are experiencing issues. Sometimes people don’t understand that there are only so many neighborhood inspectors and they are dealing with everything from high grass and weeds to somebody running an auto shop out of their residential garage. We usually only know of a problem when someone tells us so it’s important that residents notify us when they are noticing an issue.
7. What’s one thing you wish residents knew about what you do or about zoning in general?
There is sometimes confusion about what people can and can’t do. Sometimes residents think that they can do whatever they want on their property. There are regulations for a reason. Most regulations have to do with safety but some are for general aesthetics. We have to look at the long term for planning and consider what is going to be best for everyone involved. You may want to build your property out to the property line but you aren’t going to live in that house forever. That property is going to go to someone else at some point so it has to be sustainable and safe for everyone.
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If you’d like to learn more about Akron’s zoning code you can visit: https://www.akronohio.gov/cms/site/c5416831c7636a07/index.html. You can also contact the zoning department and the city planners by calling (330) 375–2350 or emailing Zoning@AkronOhio.gov.