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Town wants code enforcement officer

(4/5)  The Thurmont Town Commissioners originally considered hiring a code enforcement officer to enforce the town’s trash ordinance, but they are now realizing many ways a code enforcement officer could benefit the town.

Mayor Martin Burns told the commissioners on Mar. 20 that during a Maryland Municipal League convention he spoke with other municipalities who had code enforcement officers about the benefit of such a position. He was told the biggest benefit was that it freed up police officers to do police work rather than code enforcement.

“This type of enforcement may generate some revenue to offset what we’re paying them,” Burns said. However, he was quick to point out that the goal was to get code compliance not revenue.

Besides writing citations for trash violations, a code enforcement officer could also do parking meter enforcement among other things.

Commissioner Bill Blakeslee said that having one person do such things is more efficient because that person would know whether someone is a repeat offender and a code enforcement officer would also keep records of problems areas that needed to be checked.

Blakeslee recommended that the town hire for the position and “start part time and see what it entails to make sure we have enough work.”

The other commissioners agreed, though the job description still needs to be fine-tuned before such a process can begin.

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