County Requests Inspections on Courthouse Work

County commissioners voted unanimously last week to insist that Fisher Construction undertake appropriate building inspections of all work being performed at the courthouse in Wewahitchka.

The issue was brought forward by board chair Nathan Peters, Jr. who subsequently sent a letter to Fisher Construction alerting the contractor that the county requires all proper permits and inspection documentation be pulled for ongoing work at the courthouse.

“This is a protection for us as a county and for the taxpayers,” Peters said, adding that he was not questioning the quality of the work being performed by Fisher Construction and that the company has been good partner to the county in the past.

However, Peters said, Fisher is undertaking, as indicated by inquiries to the Building Department, the receipt of all needed permits and construction for private sector work, but had not pulled an inspection for work on the courthouse roof.

In a letter to Fisher Construction, Peters wrote, “Gulf County is not in a position to waive the requirements of any inspections of the Wewahitchka Courthouse and request that you immediately obtain any inspections as required on the Wewahitchka Courthouse project.”

Commissioner Carmen McLemore said that one issue Fisher was facing was the tedious work of replacing the decades-old window framing on the courthouse but agreed that inspections of the work on the roof should have been undertaken.

The motion by Peters passed 4-0 with Commissioner Billy Traylor absent due to the imminent birth of his grandchild.

In other business taken up during last week’s meeting:

-           Sheriff Joe Nugent asked commissioners to take another look at the county’s sexual offender ordinance, which dictates that sexual offenders may not reside within a certain distance of a church, school, day-care center, park or other locations where children would likely congregate.

Due to those restrictions, which board attorney Tim McFarland noted makes it “very hard to find a place to live outside those distances in this county,” Nugent said some offenders were choosing not to register as required by law.

McLemore expressed a particular and separate concern when noting that the one registered sexual predator in the county lives with several hundred feet of where his grandchildren live.

-           Commissioner Bill Williams continued to contend that a lack of any rate structure presented to the county makes it difficult to rationalize the City of Port St. Joe’s increased rates for water and sewer in his district, where many households have seen a 30 percent increase in water and sewer fees.

A three-tiered system that had been agreed to by county and city officials long ago, Williams argued, had been exceeded and the lack of a rate structure to justify the increases is an ongoing issue.