The Town of Culver got their first taste of an ordinance that looks to better control unsafe buildings in Marshall County.
Town Manager Jonathan Leist shared the information with the Culver Town Council on Monday. Officials with Marshall County are recommending ordinances be adopted at the municipal level to help reform the process for managing unsafe properties.
Leist says it largely incorporates all the same state statutes Culver currently has.
“The big one is it added a review board, and it changes, so if the building being reviewed is actually in Culver, there would be two or three Culver appointees to it, but if it’s somewhere else in the county, then we don’t have to be on it,” says Leist.
Marshall County reviewed the ordinance after officials with the building department advised it can take years to remedy unsafe properties in the county.
The newly appointed board can determine if a property is indeed unsafe, but also can aid in what to do about it. Currently proposals are to either repair certain aspects to a property, or demolish a structure entirely.
Leist says the board would consist of experts in the field.
“The county commissioner, a county council member, a building commissioner, and health department would all be on it as well, and if it was in Culver, Culver representatives would be added to it,” says Leist.
By implementing the changes at the municipal level, Marshall County would be uniform when dealing with properties under consideration.
The Culver Town Council will first need to review the ordinance with their attorney before bringing the document to a vote later this year.
