Ordinance Allows Penalties; to be Discussed Feb. 21

PIOCHE — A revised ordinance that would allow the County Building and Planning Department to issue penalty fees associated with various building code enforcements was presented Jan. 19 to the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners.

The revision “authorizes the Building Department and Planning Department to assess a civil penalty of $150 and investigation mileage at the current county reimbursement rate to the fee of each permit required as a result of a code violation investigations and notification.”

County Building Director Cory Lytle talks with county commissioners about setting Feb. 21 as the date for a public hearing on the revised ordinance for issuing penalty fees associated with enforcing various building codes.

Building Director Cory Lytle said the ordinance is fairly self-explanatory and it all can be discussed in further detail at the public hearing Feb. 21.

District Attorney Daniel Hooge said the ordinance, which is not intended to be retroactive, permits a penalty to be imposed only after a structure has been “red tagged,” as being in violation and failed to come into compliance . If a structure has not been red tagged yet, the owner or builder will not be held responsible for the penalty.

Red tagged usually means the city or county has noted a problem with the property or structure. It could be something easy, difficult, expensive or impossible to remedy. Lytle said in such cases, the building department makes every effort to contact the person responsible to explain the problem and work out a solution.

“We give them a call and try to arrange a visit,” he said.

Lytle said the need to issue a red tag does happen, but not very many times during a given year, and is normally handled quickly and quietly by the parties involved. ”It’s usually a punch-list thing. Take care of this, this and this, and you’re done,” he said.

Lytle said the ordinance “will be broader than just building permit issues, and will help us start to corral some of the other safety hazard issues, too. It covers a gap about connectivity between the code and enforcement of the code.”

The original ordinance, proposed in early January, resulted in a large protest at the first public hearing and caused commissioners to see the need for revision. Paul Donohue, who first introduced the ordinance, said he realized it had gone way beyond what the original intent was, and it needed to be reworked.

The revised ordinance will be published in the Lincoln County Record newspaper as well as being posted at the Lincoln County Courthouse for public review.

DAVE MAXWELL  |   LINCOLN COUNTY RECORD

Photo by Dave Maxwell