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Community development asks board for new code‑enforcement inspector as complaints and permits rise
Summary
Community development staff said inspections and nuisance complaints have increased and requested a dedicated code‑enforcement/nuisance inspector (not included in the delivered budget packet) to respond to tall grass, inoperable vehicles, dilapidated structures and other countywide nuisance issues.
Miss Lewis of the community development department told supervisors that the department is understaffed and needs an additional code‑enforcement inspector to handle an increasing workload.
She said inspection staffing is currently 3.5 full‑time equivalents for a 602‑square‑mile county and planning staff is roughly 2.5 FTEs, leaving little capacity for both plan review and nuisance follow‑up. "An inspector can easily spend 2 hours a day driving," she said, and many nuisance complaints require multiple visits and hand delivery of notices, which increases staff time per case.
Miss Lewis said the department has roughly 70 nuisance cases listed in the county code and that dilapidated buildings and trash complaints can take months to abate and sometimes end up in court. She asked the board to consider the requested inspector to allow staff to be more responsive and to move beyond an exclusively reactive posture.
Supervisors and staff discussed likely salary ranges (upper $40,000s as an expectation), training requirements (high‑school diploma or GED with on‑the‑job and state training available), and timing; the requested position was not included in the current year's $500K compensation/classification study and would be considered in next year’s requests if not approved now.
Miss Lewis said the department will continue to monitor permit volumes and nuisance workload and reiterated that an additional inspector would still leave the county with fewer staff than when the offices were joint with the city of Franklin several years ago.
