A contract is on the table that will hopefully bring the county and city together regarding how Ohio building codes will be handled in the future.
Handshakes around the table today as Allen County commissioners offered the City of Lima's building department first dibs on staffing a soon to be formed "Allen County Building Department". Commissioners wanted to take a more hands-on approach after learning 80% of all commercial projects were outside the city in unincorporated areas under their jurisdiction.
After 13 months of sometimes heated discussions concerning inspections and enforcement of building codes, commissioners have decided to stay local. They say that they have seen progress regarding concerns they had with the Lima Building Department and that new leadership and staffing have shown a willingness to move forward with changes.
"That they now acknowledge that they think what we're asking for is not unreasonable, in fact, it's something if they weren't doing what they want to do many of the things that we're asking for they were in process of doing they say, so I think for the citizens of Allen County and hopefully eventually the region we've made progress," explained Jay Begg, Allen County Commissioner.
Two of the requests in the contract were online plan submissions and video inspections. It's now up to the city to review the contract and get legislative approval. Lima's public works director says he is pleased to have the contract presented to them and it has been a learning process.
"This process I think the building community as well as the community in general and the elected officials have come to understand the importance of building departments and their functions in the community and its influence on economic development," said Howard Elstro, Lima Public Works Director.
Elstro says it could take up to six weeks to get through their process with the proposed contract.
