County Commissioners debate proposed department merger

A proposed merger between the building and zoning department and the community development commission (CDC),  introduced at last month's joint session by Don Street, President of the Board of Commissioners, was met with disapproval from Commissioner Jenny Knebel. Further discussion on the topic took place during a regular county commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 2. President Street said on Tuesday that he believes that the restructuring would be in the best interest of the county, as it would help with the volume of work that they have, making things flow easier and more efficiently. Street said that in essence, the building department would go into the CDC and the Advisory Plan Commission (APC) and the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) staff positions would be transferred to the CDC. The supervisor of those individuals would be the head of the department, the CDC director, which is currently Nathan Origer. Street continued to say that the APC and the BZA would remain in place and the president of the APC and the BZA would be placed on the CDC board. He noted that if someone is president of both, they would then take someone in the vice president position. If passed, Street said this all would start on Dec. 1. He commented that this timeline would allow time for the CDC executive director to come up with job descriptions and for the necessary communications to take place. Street made the motion and it was seconded by Commissioner Mike McClure. Commissioner Knebel took time during discussion to voice her concerns.