Done Deal: County To Provide Code Enforcement In Century

February 20, 2009


Escambia County has added their approval to an agreement that will bring code enforcement back to Century.

The Escambia County Commission approved the agreement with Century last night. The Century Town Council had ratified the agreement at the end of January.

The agreement calls for Escambia County to provide code enforcement for both county and town ordinances within the town limits. Sandra Slay, Escambia County’s code enforcement manager, told the town council that the enforcement will be “proactive”, The code officers will not respond to citizen complaints within the Town of Century; rather, the officers will seek out violators.

The written agreement states that “the parties expressly agree that no performance standards, other than those that are generally applicable to similar actives by the county elsewhere outside the corporate limits of the Town, are intended of should be inferred.”

Under the agreement, the Town of Century will be responsible for removing nuisance violations, such as tearing down buildings that owners do not repair.

The county will provide a monthly report of all enforcement activities in Century to the town.

The county’s enforcement activities will be funded by a Community Development Block Grant. The county will receive all fines and fees collected from Century violators.

Previously, Century ended an agreement with Escambia County to provide code enforcement in the town. Under that agreement, the county’s code enforcement officers worked Century and wrote citations that were turned over to the town for abatement. The services were provided by the county at no charge to Century.

The arrangement came under fire, with allegations that the county’s officers provided selective enforcement, citing some people but no others. That prompted the council to sever the relationship with Escambia Code Enforcement. Currently, there is no code enforcement at all in the town.

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