Blackshear may soon take over code enforcement within the city limits.
The Blackshear City Council is currently discussing reasserting it’s control of zoning and code enforcement within the city and it could happen by this summer.
While the matter has been discussed before in an informal way, the March 3 work session of the council was the first time this year the subject was officially listed as an item on the agenda. No resolutions have been passed yet, but Blackshear Mayor Keith Brooks feels it might be time for a change of the current status quo.
The official intergovernmental agreement between the city and the county which left code and zoning enforcement in the county’s hands can be terminated by either part at will, but requires a 90-day written notification.
“We’ve had some problems with—,” Brooks broke off without naming any specific instances that prompted the discussion before continuing, “I don’t think we’re getting a very good product from the county where it comes to inspecting and enforcing zoning and permitting.”
Brooks hastened to add the city was not opposed to remaining part of the Joint Zoning, Planning and Code Enforcement Advisory Board in zoning and advisory matters, but indicated the time had come time for Blackshear to do its own enforcement within the city limits.
In terms of staffing and manpower, not much would change. Mayor Brooks says the understanding is they will have “one full-timer and a spare” handling the work. There will be no new department of code enforcement within the city and no new hires. Instead, enforcement will function as another division of the Blackshear Police Department with one full time employee dedicated to the task. A cross-trained alternate would be assigned to temporarily cover the assignment in cases of sickness or vacation time.
Blackshear Police Chief Chris Wright says the two employees are both currently undergoing the necessary training and should be ready by July, when the official change over is expected to take place. Any clerical work involved with the new division would be handled by the office staff currently in place at the police department.
The official letter notifying Pierce County of the Blackshear’s intent to assume building permitting and inspection responsibilities within the corporate limits effective July 2026 is “already written” according to Wright. All that is required is for the council to vote on the matter.
Approval of such a resolution could happen as soon as the city council’s next regular session and would officially initiate the transition process and Blackshear would be handling code and zoning violations in the city by July of this year.
