CARIBOU — In most of the state’s more populated communities, it is common for municipalities to have a code enforcement officer on the payroll.
In vast Aroostook County, however, it is common for many smaller towns to share a CEO, or for some towns to go without one for long stretches of time, according to officials at the Northern Maine Development Commission.
State law dictates that all Maine communities must employ a code enforcement officer, however, and Aroostook County is now experiencing a shortage. Neither Brianne Hasty, the manager of the code enforcement officer training program for the Department of Economic and Community Development, or Tony Levesque, president of Aroostook County Code Enforcement Organizations, could provide exact numbers of towns that are seeking or sharing code enforcement officers.
But Levesque said recently that his “best guess” was that there are approximately 18 code enforcement officers serving 65 Aroostook County towns, which he said left a significant void.
“I think that the shortage has been something that has been growing slowly and we have to do something about it now before it develops into more of a problem,” said Levesque. “I know there are several reasons for it, and if we tackle those reasons I think we can do something about it.”
A code enforcement officer is defined under Maine law as a person employed by a municipality to enforce all enabling state laws and local ordinances in the following areas: shoreland zoning, land use regulation, internal plumbing, subsurface wastewater and building standards. The CEO must be certified in each area for which they have responsibility within 12 months of their initial appointment date or of the date they assume responsibility for a given area.
Hasty said that if a town lacks a code enforcement officer, projects cannot get approved via permit, so a town must proceed as quickly as possible to replace or find one for their community. She could not speak to why towns do not charge more for inspections to pay for code enforcement officers.
Officials from NMDC and representatives from Aroostook County code enforcement organizations are looking to attract qualified persons to the profession. Levesque said that one of the reasons for the shortage is the lack of support from the state agencies to have trainings in Aroostook County.
“Many times just getting to training is expensive and time consuming,” said Levesque.
Levesque also said that some communities do not pay their CEO’s as well as others.
“A lot of these positions are funded through fees and stipends only,” he explained. “Some communities just pay an hourly rate and mileage to their CEO. That means if you are not a full-time employee, you are not paid a set salary with employee benefits, such as insurance. That tends to compel some code enforcement officers to work for several small towns at once in order to make money.”
Hasty said she has not heard “too many” complaints about the CEO shortage, but said she recognized that it was mainly an issue in rural areas of the state like Aroostook County.
“Statewide, we have 473 code enforcement officers, and that number has not fluctuated too much over the past few years,” she said.
She said that individuals who want to become code enforcement officers can be certified in 13 areas if they choose, but they must take a legal issues exam and one other exam in a specific area like land use or shoreland zoning in order to pass the state certification exam. Levesque said that the Northern Maine Development Commission and the Aroostook County Code Enforcement Organizations have succeeded in getting training to Aroostook County and they are working to bring more.
“I believe that without these efforts there would be a greater shortage and other CEO’s would be further behind in recertification efforts,” said Levesque.
Northern Maine Development Commission, in cooperation with the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, gives code enforcement officer and plumbing inspector examinations in the Caribou Office. Exams are free of charge for the first three attempts.
For more information on becoming a CEO, contact Jay Kamm, NMDC senior planner, at 493-5757 or by email at jkamm@nmdc.org.
