Washington County Courthouse, 205 Putnam St., Marietta.
(Photo by Michele Newbanks)
The condition of all county-owned buildings will soon be assessed by the Southeast Ohio Building Department.
In a recent meeting of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Jamie Booth said this was something he was interested in getting done.
“When you’re elected as an official, the citizens trust you to take care of their property, i.e. the buildings,” Booth said Tuesday. “We are not doing our due diligence if we do not assess where we are with maintenance.”
He said he’s never heard of the county assessing all of its properties before.
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The Washington County Commission is looking for a new chief building official after the recurring appointment for Chris Wilson was not renewed.
The job was posted last week and interviews will begin next week, said Commission President Kevin Ritter. The job is posted to the “employment” section of the county’s website, www.washingtongov.org.
“We will likely receive interest not only from within the department, but also outside the department,” he said.
Wilson, who had been with the Southeast Ohio Building Department since 2015, had his last day on Jan. 11.
“We decided not to bring him back,” Ritter said Monday. “Anytime there’s a change of administration, these sorts of changes are not uncommon. It’s an at-will appointment.”
mnewbanks@mariettatimes.com
A Washington County department head said he was “blindsided” by having his budget cut by about $175,000 by the Washington County Commission.
After their regular business meeting Thursday morning, the commission met to discuss the 2021 appropriations.
“Every department save one received exactly what their budget request was for the 2021 fiscal year,” Commission President Ron Feathers said. “There was one that is based solely off of their revenue. This is not an indication of leadership or management, it’s simply an indication of COVID that we had to cut back about $200,000.”
He said the department is well needed, but it’s also a department of convenience and is not mandated.