People advocating for the return of adequate code enforcement in Josephine County have reason to be optimistic. County Commissioners say they’re sympathetic toward people living near garbage piles and stream polluters and are working toward beefing up code enforcement.  But as Commission Chair Ron Smith said at the June 10 Business Meeting “Government’s not one of these things that moves at lightning speed and the thing that slows us down is money. And if you understand money in Josephine County, it’s in short supply for county government.”

At that meeting the Commission learned from a retired Code Enforcement officer that when she left seven years ago, there were around 400 open violation files awaiting action. Now she says there are 886. Until very recently, there was no one around to follow up on these complaints after past Commissioners cut staff. This Commission has heard the public’s concerns, though, and hired someone to investigate solid waste violations out of Public Health. However, solid waste isn’t the only kind of code violation in the county, advocates say. There are also planning and building code violations and riparian issues, such as people dumping in waterways, cutting vegetation, or moving streams around.

All three Commissioners said they are willing to hear from people concerned about the county’s lack of code enforcement and the impact it has on their neighborhoods. They said to call and make an appointment to talk to them at 547-474-5221. You can also email them at: Colene Martin – [email protected], Ron Smith – [email protected], Gary Richardson – [email protected].