Town officials discuss tightening code enforcement, withholding permits and hiring an enforcement officer

Town council members and legal counsel discussed options for strengthening code enforcement, including civil remedies and withholding permits or certificates of occupancy, during a planning-and-zoning work session.

The discussion focused on how the town can enforce ordinances when there is no dedicated enforcement officer and on the limits of reversing permits once property owners have relied on them.

Chris, the meeting's legal advisor, told the council that "every ordinance that we have adopted has some method of enforcement" and that the typical approach in the town's ordinances is civil enforcement — "we do civil enforcement ... that we seek an injunction" — rather than criminal misdemeanor charges, which he said often provoke strong backlash from people and businesses. He recommended that the council be involved early when the town considers pursuing judicial enforcement: "before you do that, you wanna have the council their blessing."

Council members raised recurring problems the town has seen in which violations are observed but no staff member has clear responsibility to follow up. Chris said most jurisdictions designate a staff point person for code enforcement and noted that "most enforcement is complaint driven" and that staff typically handle routine notices and inspections. The council discussed whether the town should rely on the county for building-code enforcement or bring enforcement in-house as the town grows. Chris explained that construction and building-code matters are often handled by the county in small towns and that those codes involve health-and-safety concerns such as electrical and plumbing work.

The council also asked what happens when the town issues a permit in error. Chris advised caution: if a permit is issued and the property owner has started work in reliance on it, "you're done" — meaning it is usually difficult to revoke a permit once the owner has acted. He described litigation experience where courts were reluctant to allow revocation when owners had relied on issued permits. That guidance was given in response to the council's examples of prior administrative mistakes such as incorrect parcel acreages.

On remedies, Chris and staff outlined steps the town can use to encourage compliance short of criminal charges: withholding certificates of occupancy until inspections are completed, refusing other approvals until outstanding violations are corrected, and using civil injunctions when necessary. "You're not gonna issue a certificate of occupancy if there's never been an inspection on new construction," Chris said, adding that property owners often seek to bring improvements into compliance when they choose to sell.

Councilmembers and staff agreed on a next step of pursuing a dedicated enforcement role. One councilmember said she was "on a serious mission to figure out how we get, a compliant enforcement officer" and suggested exploring a contracted building inspector who could also handle enforcement tasks case-by-case. The group asked representatives to report back to their respective entities and aimed to reconvene with more information by March.

No ordinance or formal policy change was adopted during the session; the meeting ended after the discussion and scheduling follow-up work.