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Bill would create a proportional complaint process for code enforcement officers, shifting away from court‑only revocation
Summary
LD2097 seeks to replace an all‑or‑nothing district‑court revocation process for certification complaints against code enforcement professionals with a tiered review committee and proportional remedies—ranging from training to peer review—while stakeholders urged stronger training and limits on new civil penalties.
Representative Tracy Geer presented LD2097 (sponsored by the Maine Office of Community Affairs) as a structural fix: current law’s only option for unresolved complaints is to seek district‑court revocation of a certification, an approach MOCA and stakeholders said is expensive, unclear on standing, and disproportionate to many complaints.
Samantha Horn, director of MOCA, told the committee the proposed complaint committee and tiered remediation process is intended to provide proportionate remedies (letters of concern, corrective agreements, peer review and training) rather than immediate decertification and to free agency resources for training and technical assistance.
Municipal officials and the Maine Municipal Association supported reform but warned the bill as drafted included overly broad grounds for action, civil penalties and risked centralizing disciplinary power without expanding training and resources. MMA said many routine disputes reflect differences over interpretation rather than misconduct, and urged clearer language limiting decertification to serious misconduct and removing open civil penalties.
MOCA and municipal groups agreed to work on revised language and requested a two‑week work session to reconcile concerns, clarify committee composition and ensure training and technical assistance accompany any new enforcement process.
Next steps: committee accepted the offer to continue drafting with MOCA, MBOIA and MMA; the committee scheduled a near‑term work session for collaborative redrafting.
