Brundidge adds city building department

Staff

Published Sunday, May 26, 2002

Features Editor

The city of Brundidge will reinvent a building department that was instituted in 1980 but diminished and finally disappeared after its director retired about eight years ago.

"The position was never filled after the director's retirement, but now there is a very noticeable deficit in the areas covered by the building department," said Britt Thomas, city manager. "It is time to reinvent the building department."

The Brundidge City Council agreed and voted recently to advertise for the position of business/license inspector for the city.

Thomas said the responsibilities of the building department head included ensuring that the city's zoning ordinances were carried out in an appropriate manner, serving on the planning commission as a representative of the city's administrative staff and making sure the building codes were being met.

"At the same time, he was responsible for making sure overgrown lots were maintained in a manner consistent with the city ordinance," Thomas said. "He was also responsible for overseeing the abandoned vehicle and dilapidated building ordinances."

Tacked on to those responsibilities was keeping up with the city's business licenses and business license taxes.

When the building department was phased out, the responsibilities of that department were handled by the administrative staff of the city.

Now that the city is involved in several large economic development projects, Thomas said it is necessary for the building department to be reinvented with a business/license officer at the helm.

"What we need to do is to make sure that we get what is due us," Thomas said. "With the projects that we have under way, it is necessary to have someone to keep tabs on what is going on. We have prime contractors and sub-contractors working in the city and we

have vendors coming and going. There are licenses to be collected and license taxes. Without some prodding from the city, that won't happen. We need eyes out there."

Thomas said during the last fiscal year, the city's license fees and license taxes totaled about $65,000.

"This year, from the Wal-Mart project alone, we expect the license and license tax fees to be more than $102,000," he said. "That amount would fund the position of a business/license officer for about two years. In order for us to get what is due us, we need this person on our staff."

Thomas said he will prepare a job description next week and began to advertise for the position soon after that.

"We would hope to find a candidate with experience in at least the basic knowledge of the Southern Standard Building Code," he said. "Other than that, we're still looking at the qualifications we want for this position."  

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