Churchill County has hired a new Code Compliance Officer in the Planning and Public Works Department. Loreli LeBaron has been with the county since November 2020, filling a position that has been vacant for several years. She brings over seven years of code compliance experience to the job and is very informed on local and state regulations. Her position is a part-time one at present, only 19 hours per week, but quite a bit of work is packed into those highly productive hours.
LeBaron takes all cases seriously, prioritizing hazardous or other types of disaster-type of situations that get an immediate response. “Those always come first,” she said.
Churchill County has a rich history with vast amounts of open land in the county. As such, LeBaron likes to take a “voluntary compliance” approach to code enforcement as opposed to being heavy-handed. She's found that this approach develops a more cooperative spirit between the violator and the Code Compliance office. She appreciates the diversity throughout the community and is compassionate in her application of the regulations. However, when it comes to ensuring the safety of people, especially children, enforcing regulations is critical.
Enforcing regulations in her last position did not leave much room for latitude, but that made them easier to enforce. The Compliance Office would respond to complaints filed by residents or respond to disaster-type situations. If a violation was found, a notice would be sent to the alleged violator giving them 30 days to correct the violation. If no progress was made after 30 days, the case was immediately referred to the District Attorney's office. Another violation notice would be sent informing the person of possible court action, and if no response was received the court case would be filed.
Here in Churchill County, LeBaron can initiate a code review if she witnesses a health or safety violation and can also respond to citizens' complaints and concerns. The complainant's name is always kept confidential – it has to be per state regulations. Code enforcement is an administrative action in Churchill County, and complaints are usually made for safety reasons or for nuisance situations. If a violation is found, a notice is sent to the alleged violator, and if they don't respond to her within two weeks, she will send a second notice. If there is still no response or corrective action, a third and final notice will be sent to the violator. At that point, administrative fines and fees are applied. The two-week timeframe can be a constraint for correcting a violation, but if the person lets her know they are having difficulty meeting a deadline, she may be able to grant them an extension. However, the rules can only be bent so far. She prefers to see successes in corrective actions. “I'm not a push-over, instead I'm firm but fair,” she said.
There have been times when she has come to an agreement with a person to correct a violation, but when she returns for an inspection, the person has just ignored the terms. In those cases, she would begin the official notification process.
One thing that has surprised LeBaron in Churchill County is the number of people using sheds and other tiny buildings as dwellings. She said, “These substitute dwellings raise another whole series of health and safety concerns, especially with regards to water, sewer, and drainage.”
Her part-time schedule limits her ability to get out for inspections. But she is adept at “resourcing” working with others both within her department and with other partner departments to get things done. She is also the stand-in designee for the County Building Official, Fire Marshall, and Sheriff's Office to support enforcement of codes in a particular situation where those officials are unable to attend themselves.
Looking to the future, LeBaron said in terms of her position and for code compliance in general, she would like to sharpen some of the language in the regulations to make them easier for the citizens to understand. There may also be some areas in the codes that could be improved to be more responsive to community needs. She is also improving some of the office processes by creating electronic forms in place of paper ones and scanning documents into a searchable database. She looks forward to the community further embracing the compliance program and appreciates the support the program is already receiving.
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