County performing Cloverdale inspections no sure thing

Monday, April 20, 2020

With the Cloverdale building inspector recently fired, the Putnam County Building and Planning Department is temporarily helping the town with inspections.

Whether the county will take over the duty permanently is a question for another day.

When the Cloverdale Town Council fired Wayne Galloway as town manager and building inpsector recently, several inspections needed to be completed.

As such, Putnam County Planner and Building Inspector Don Hatfield stepped in and did several inspections on an emergency basis.

However, Cloverdale officials have expressed interest in the county taking over the duty permanently, thus eliminating the need for a Cloverdale building inspector.

On this matter, the Putnam County Commissioners need more information.

Hatfield told commissioners Rick Woodall and David Berry on Monday that in order to take on duty, his department would need an additional part-time building inspector and another full-time officer worker.

This may be asking too much.

While taking on Cloverdale’s inspection would mean additional funds flowing into the department, it may not be enough to pay for the two positions, one of which would have benefits.

The county currently does building inspections for Bainbridge, Roachdale and Russellville, but is under no obligation to do the same in Cloverdale.

“I don’t think we have an obligation,” County Attorney Jim Ensley said. “We don’t have to do it.”

No decision was made on Monday, but the matter will be revisited during the next commissioners meeting on Monday, May 4.

At that time, the commissioners hope to have hard numbers on the number of inspections done in Cloverdale last year, how much money those would generate for the county and exactly what would be spent on two new positions.

“What we know is, the Town of Cloverdale needs our help and they have asked for it,” Woodall said.

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