Gunnison hires code enforcement officer to deal with city code violations
By Robert Stevens
Managing editor
11-11-2020
GUNNISON—City officials are contracting with a code enforcement officer to deal with code violations in Gunnison.
“We’ve been trying to work on this beautification process for some time, since the spring,” said Councilwoman Stella Hill. “It’s getting there, but when we have had problems with code violations we don’t really have any way to enforce it.”
The council said they had approached Officer Eric Pratt, who had done code enforcement in Sevier County, to see if he would come do it in Gunnison on a contract basis.
“He’s been trained and he knows how to do this, so I am hoping he can help us get some of these messes cleaned up around town,” Hill said. “Once we identify places that are not in compliance, he will be the one that will follow through and let them know what they need to do.”
Mayor Lori Nay said the job would be entirely contracted, and would be approximately 20-30 hours per week at about $20 per hour.
“Pratt was doing code enforcement in Salina before this,” Nay said to the council. “He has a kind of personality that will work well for this, and he has already said he will be interested.”
A motion was made and the city council unanimously approved bringing on Pratt as a contract code enforcement officer.
In addition to ensuring the enforcement of code, Nay also discussed a new project to add sidewalk and gutter to 100 West from Center Street to 100 South.
“Every year we put $50,000 towards new sidewalks,” Nay said. “This has been listed as one of the top three sidewalks to do since we’ve been doing this.”
Nay said the bid to put in a 5-foot sidewalk with curb and drainage was just over $25,000 from the lowest successful bidder on the job.
“I know it’s a bit of sticker shock, but it is what it is,” Nay said. “We budgeted for this already.”
The council also unanimously approved the sidewalk construction, which Nay said would hopefully start in about two weeks if the weather cooperates.
