March 8, 2007
CODE
ENFORCEMENT ON THE TRAIL AGAIN!
What’s
the best way to keep your cows from getting out and having
the Code Enforcement Officer round ‘em up? One cattleman
felt the best way was to cut the trees down along his fence
line so they wouldn’t fall on the fence and his cows could
get out. So that’s what he did.
In the meantime,
as Cowboy Rogers rode his 4x4 home every night and back
to work the next day, he’d pass the cattleman’s pasture.
He noticed trees being cut. He
noticed DIRT BEING MOVED! Oh, my, another
violation! He calls the cattleman and tells him, “I’ve been
watching you.” Cowboy Rogers
then informs the cattleman that he’s in violation of the
“land disturbance ordinance” and must pay a fee to cut down
those trees, smooth out the dirt, and replace his fence.
Not believing
that is so, the cattleman promptly heads down to the Courthouse.
No one can help him, but they send him over to Planning
and Zoning—the main bunkhouse for the Cowboy. The P&Z
Director can’t answer any of the cattleman’s questions,
but tells him he’ll check into it. The next day, the cattleman
is called and told he owes a $50 fee for a “land disturbance
permit.”
First it’s cows,
now it’s land disturbance. Does this mean that every time
our Code Enforcement officer is riding around and sees a
farmer plowing his field, it’s a fee for land disturbance?
What if a few dead trees need to be removed? Another fee
for land disturbance? How about a back yard garden? That
has to be plowed and certainly land is moved and disturbed;
does that qualify? TWG will ask for copies of the ordinance(s)
and see how they pertain to AGRICULTURAL
lands.
Our County must
be in a much more desperate financial condition than we
know. Under the direction of the BOC and County Manager
(who by the way backs the Cowboy in all he does), the Code
Enforcement Officer is bringing to justice every “lawbreaker”
in the county. TWG was told by one commissioner, “His job
is to write tickets.” Money is the name of the game—again
NO COMMON SENSE prevails.
If the BOC wants
to save money they could decide that driving a F250 4x4
home and back every night (approx. 13 miles one way) was
expensive. But the BOC
has continued to violate their own resolution that employees
could not take their vehicles home,
but Code Enforcement (and Recreation) is an exception—the
County Manager told him he could. So is this “breaking the
law?” It’s against the Resolution signed and still in effect.
The BOC said about 6 months ago when it was brought up by
a citizen that the “Vehicle Policy for employees with County
vehicles” would be discussed at the next meeting. It’s fallen
into the Great Abyss with the Vehicle Plan, the County Website,
the Budget Calendar and several other items that would be
“on the next agenda” but have yet to appear or be discussed.
When
is Code Enforcement going to do something about the Kennels
that still exist and possibly have been expanded but were
denied by the BOC almost a year ago? What about
the big mess that was supposed to be cleaned up at the corner
of Hwy 11 S and Hwy 380 in October 2006 then given an extension
until 2/1/07? It’s still there and still an eye sore. These
are the type of Code Enforcement areas where things need
to be done. Not cows and farmers taking care of their pastures
and fences.
TWG
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Mission
Statement:
** To keep the taxpayers of Jasper County, Georgia informed
as to where and how
their tax dollars are being spent.
** To keep the taxpayers abreast of local policies and
laws being
discussed and enacted.
** We advocate more open government, less government spending,
and lower property taxes.
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