The Auburn City Council gave two additional titles to city planner Larry Lucas on May 6.
Lucas was designated as the city’s code enforcement officer and as the director of buildings.
Those titles specifically empower him to enforce all of the city codes related to building safety, use of property, and compliance with the zoning and planning regulations.
Though he also can issue citations for violations of the city code and order inspections, his newly assigned roles do not reduce the authority of the code enforcement division of the Auburn Police Department, according to city officials.
His appointments simply identify the staff person within the city government who is responsible for administering all of the related code provisions, they say.
Nevertheless, Auburn Police Chief Frederick Brown also announced during the council meeting the retirement of Maggie Maddox, the police department’s longtime code enforcement officer.
“Maggie retired last month,” Brown said. “We are going to miss her. She dedicated over 11 years of service to Auburn, starting off as city marshal and then working as the code enforcement officer.”
Her departure had nothing to do with Lucas being named the administration’s code enforcement officer, said Mayor Linda Blechinger. She said Maddox retired for personal reasons.
Chief Brown also announced the promotion of Mark Farr to sergeant and the hiring of Officer James Doss, who had been a detention officer at the Barrow County Detention Center.
In other business, the council:
•adopted the “Parks and Leisure Rental Policies Manual” with new rental rates for some facilities. The new rates affect the J.D. Withers Buidling, the R.H. Burel Park Pavilion and Gazebo, and the James Shackelford Memorial Park pavilions and campsites. The complete list of rates is in the manual.
•rezoned eight Hwy. 8 parcels from residential (R-100) to commercial (C-2) to bring them into compliance with Auburn’s zoning map. Four undeveloped parcels with the new C-2 zoning are 2.11 acres owned by Richard C. Lay of Gainesville, three acres owned by Safari Entertainment Inc. of Duluth, 1.84 acres owned by Cathryn Pittman of Auburn; and 4.24 acres owned by Cyril Bruce of Dacula. The other affected properties are 2.97 acres owned by Grace Missionary Baptist Church at 1700 Atlanta Hwy.; 1.04 acres owned by Fairfield Baptist Church at 1451 Atlanta Hwy.; 3.5 acres owned by Miriam Wood of Auburn at 1425 Atlanta Hwy., and .52 acres owned by Sue Burel of Auburn at 1420 Atlanta Hwy. According to the city planner, property owners were notified and no one objected.
•approved the expenditure of $31,469 in SPLOST funds for the repair of damaged and deteriorated asphalt on Jamestown Road/Oakleaf Drive and on Wynfield Drive, both in the city of Auburn. Once the repairs are complete, the Georgia Department of Transportation will repave the roads.
•approved a $100 fee for water meter testing due to a change in the vendor performing the testing. Customers whose meters are found to be operating improperly will not be charged the fee.
•adopted the county’s Pre-Disaster Hazard Mitigation Plan.
•adopted the Barrow County Local Emergency Operations Plan.
