By Scott White
Woodford Sun Staff
Report for America corps member
The Woodford County Fiscal Court heard the first reading of an ordinance creating the first-ever Woodford County Code Enforcement Board (CEB), which will have the power to levy civil fines for violations of the county’s code of ordinances, at its meeting Tuesday night.
The CEB will only have jurisdiction over properties outside the urban service boundaries (city limits) of Midway and Versailles.
At an earlier Fiscal Court meeting, Magistrates Mary Ann Gill and Larry Blackford were tasked with studying the need for a CEB, how other jurisdictions approached enforcement, and, if needed, asked to bring a proposed solution to the ordinance committee.
That process was completed and the Ordinance Committee submitted a proposed ordinance to the Fiscal Court at its last meeting. On Tuesday, Oct, 13, the Fiscal Court’s Committee of the Whole discussed the proposed ordinance, made some technical tweaks and the final version had its first reading during the court’s regular meeting.
The ordinance says the CEB will be appointed by the judge-executive and approved by the court. It will consist of five members, with two alternates, the board members must have been a Woodford County resident for at least a year, and the board must elect a chair and vice chair. The code enforcement officers will be Planning Commission officers, but can also include building code inspectors, any law enforcement, county animal control officers, county road director, solid waste director and health department officers.
Further, the CEB will deal with appeals from citations of code violations. The penalties are $250 for a first offense, $500 for a second and $1,000 for third offenses.
An officer may also issue a notice of violation, instead of a citation, and provide the property owner a period of time to correct the violation. If not corrected, then it converts to a citation. The property owner has seven days from issuance to either pay the penalty or file an appeal with the CEB, and if appealed, a hearing is held. The county attorney’s office will prosecute all of the civil penalty cases.
This system will replace the current criminal enforcement of code violations.
“The intended consequence of this ordinance is that we get a fair, efficient, timely and inexpensive process for civil code enforcement in the county outside of the Urban Service Boundary, that is now lacking. Once the board is appointed and trained, P&Z can begin to address zoning violations involving many of the 40-plus blighted properties in the county immediately,” Gill told the Sun in a text after the meeting. “This process works in every county around Woodford and in Versailles and Midway. I’m thankful that we got that ball rolling. Thanks go to Planning Director Steve Hunter and Magistrate Larry Blackford for their advocacy.”
This ordinance will become law after its second reading, which is expected to take place at the next meeting on Oct. 27.
New stop sign
The Fiscal Court approved the erection of a new stop sign at the intersection of Winton Road and Granger Lane in the Gleneagles subdivision. Magistrate Larry Blackford requested that the county get notice out to avoid surprise, and for the road department to inform him when the date for putting it up is set so he can alert homeowner associations.
Roadwork scheduled
The Fiscal Court approved an agreement with the Transportation Cabinet’s Department of Rural and Municipal Aid for $100,000 in CG01 Grant Pool Funds to proceed with needed paving work on Big Sink Road, Dry Ridge Road and Hedden Road.
“We will try to proceed with paving roads this way in the future,” said Judge-Executive James Kay.
County fire hydrants
Gill reported that she learned from attending the recent board meeting of the South Woodford Water District that there was an unusually high amount of water loss. She said that while some of the water loss was attributed to line leaks, the board has reports and evidence of unauthorized uses of fire hydrants. She suggested the court consider taking action to increase the fines and a mechanism for people to report if they see illegal uses of hydrants.
County Attorney Alan George said there are criminal laws now in place to prosecute anyone using hydrants illegally.
Kay added that anyone found to have illegally used a hydrant will be “prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and the board will get its money back.”
Frontier Days
Durbin Tinsley, director of the Jack Jouett House, reported that the two-day Frontier Days event held two weeks ago was a success, with 427 Woodford County fifth graders spending a half-day learning about Woodford County’s post-colonial history through exhibits, reenactors and other programming.
He also marveled that several students came back during fall break, bringing their families to show them the historic house and property. “I was very impressed,” Tinsley said. “When I was in fifth grade on break, I was usually playing video games!”