News

By Rich Pollack

    After months of complaints from a handful of residents who say town codes are not being properly enforced, frustrated Highland Beach town commissioners agreed in July to revamp the code inspection process and hire a full-time code enforcement officer.
    Currently, the town has a building department office manager who spends about 10 hours a week investigating code violations. She passes the results of her investigation to the town’s contracted building official, Mike Desorcy, for follow-up.
    For the past several months, the firm that provides building inspection services — SAFEbuilt — has also provided a part-time code enforcement inspector who works three days a week.
    During a workshop late last month, however, commissioners learned the town was paying $48 an hour for the part-time code enforcement inspector and also paying additional fees when Desorcy provided code enforcement services.
    “We’ve been misled here,” Vice Mayor Bill Weitz said. “Our code enforcement person was an office manager? And we’ve been getting complaints for years? No wonder we don’t get code enforcement.”
    Commissioners said they were under the impression that SAFEbuilt was providing the part-time code inspector at no charge. “This is incredible to me,” Weitz said. “This is not a failure to communicate, this is miscommunication.”
    Commissioner Rhoda Zelniker, who has been speaking out for weeks about concerns with how town codes are enforced — specifically when it comes to new construction — said she, too, was upset to discover that the town didn’t have a full-time code enforcement inspector.
    “This really is unbelievable,” she said. “It’s disheartening to me.”   
    During the meeting, commissioners heard that before the recession, the town had a full-time building official and a full-time code enforcement officer. During the building slowdown, however, the town decided to outsource building inspection services.
    “Somehow we went from a department that had two functional people in it to a department that is dysfunctional,” Weitz said.
    In a recent follow-up meeting, commissioners agreed to begin the process of hiring a full-time code enforcement officer immediately.
    “For $48 an hour, we could certainly get a very fine person,” said Commissioner Lou Stern, who earlier had brought up the need for a full-time inspector. “We need to make sure people know we mean business.”
    Commissioners recommended the new code enforcement officer report to the Police Department. Police officers already assist with code enforcement during, after or before regular business hours.  
    In addition to discussing code enforcement, the commission also discussed renewal of the SAFEbuilt contract. SAFEbuilt receives 50 percent of building permit fees collected by the town. It also receives $48 an hour for planning and zoning consultation and any after-hours meetings or inspections.
    Commissioners agreed to the contract after being assured by Town Attorney Glen Torcivia that it could be terminated without cause by either side with 30 days’ notice.