The county has issued an ultimatum to several towns: Unless they adopt appropriate resolutions regarding fire and building inspections in accordance with General Statute, such inspections will cease in those towns after February.

The towns of Newton Grove, Clinton and Roseboro have adopted appropriate resolutions regarding fire and building inspections, which were subsequently approved by resolutions collectively adopted this month by the Sampson County Board of Commissioners.

However, county manager Rick Moorefield said he has not heard anything from Harrells, Garland, Salemburg or Autryville. Moorefield also attended the town of Turkey’s meeting last month to explain the reasons for requesting municipalities to address new arrangements with the county for performing inspections. Turkey voted to table action until March.

Moorefield said the county’s ordinances simply do not apply in any of the municipalities. The county’s inspectors are enforcing the building and fire codes on behalf of the municipalities within their jurisdictions.

Each of the resolutions adopted by Newton Grove, Clinton and Roseboro states that any county inspector exercising the duties of an inspector within the municipality shall be considered a municipal employee. As such, the municipality will have any potential liability for those inspections as it does with an employee of the town, the county will not.

“When a fire inspector is conducting a fire investigation in the municipality, he’s not doing it for the county, he’s doing it for the town,” Moorefield explained. “This (resolution) acknowledges while he’s doing that work, he’s essentially a municipal worker. If he did something wrong, he was not doing a county function. It was a municipal service.”

The county manager recommended that the board direct the fire marshal to cases all inspections in Turkey, Harrells, Garland, Salemburg and Autryville at the end of December. Further, he recommended the board direct building inspectors to cease all inspection at the end of February, with notice of the action to be provided to the towns.

Board chairman Jefferson Strickland floated possibly extending both building and fire inspections until the end of February.

“I don’t want to impose any hardships for those municipalities,” said Strickland.

“I don’t either,” Moorefield replied, “but we’re had four months for this to be worked out.”

Moorefield said he was unsure of the reason for the delay with some of the towns, and if it might have something to do with them not knowing exactly what was going on. Either way, Moorefield said it would be unfair to towns who have taken steps to go along with the change, a statutory revision, to continue inspections at towns that have not.

“It’s really not fair for towns who are doing something, when others are not doing anything,” said Moorefield. “There’s just an inequity in that.”

Commissioner John Blanton made a motion to cease all inspections in Turkey, Harrells, Garland, Salemburg and Autryville by the end of February unless those towns provide the county with action taken by their respective boards to adopt the new arrangement. Notice of the impending action was also to be sent to the towns.

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.