Wire
(The Center Square) – Malibu is open for business, but officials say more time is needed to get the famous beach city back in the shape it was in before the devastating Palisades Fire.
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Oregon State Building Codes has operated an office out of the Wasco County Public Works Building on East Second Street in The Dalles since 2019, but starting June 10 that office became a Wasco County department, with services limited to the communities and residents of Wasco County.
As was predicted when a multi-county regional government entity dissolved earlier this year, the fate of a $3.9 million reserve fund for building codes services has ended up being a key point of contention. The state wants Wasco County to decide whether it will take over building codes services before the state starts the difficult task of figuring out how to divide the reserve among the counties.
Wasco County is poised to turn the building codes program over to the state on a permanent basis but doesn’t want to make that decision until officials hear from contractors, developers and community members. A dialogue about the issue is planned for the Sept. 19 county commission meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. at the county courthouse, 511 Washington St.
State building codes officials were finally equipped to answer local stakeholders’ questions at a meeting Tuesday evening, where they assured local contractors that the state building codes division would operate as similarly to MCCOG as possible.
Wasco County Commissioners are seeking input from contractors before responding to a letter from the state Building Codes Division about how a new program will be run.
The deadline is approaching for the Mid-Columbia Council of Governments to stop providing building code services and Wasco County officials are scrambling to get another local office set up. “We’re still trying to put all the pieces together,” said Steve Kramer, chair of the county commission for 2018.
The Dalles City Council decided Monday not to change the status quo for how planning and building code services are handled, although officials remain interested in negotiating with Wasco County to combine programs.
Building Codes Services staff were originally hoping for a 40 percent across-the-board increase in fees on August 1 but are now considering a more incremental approach starting later this year.
