Todd County Board of Commissioners: Ordinances need teeth or why have them?
by Karin L. Nauber
karin@inhnews.com
At their year-end meeting held on December 27, the commissioners discussed the ongoing violations that some property owners have in the county.
The one that seemed to cause the most chagrin was in the matter of Marvin Drayna’s first-year violation assessment.
Planning and Zoning Director Adam Ossefoort presented the information.
Drayna’s specific violation description was as described: This property is in violation for operating a business without a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) and accumulation of public nuisance items.
An update was provided during the December 20 work session. Several in-person meetings have been held to determine a path to compliance. No efforts have been made by the landowner to make progress.
Commissioner David Kircher said that this person had been in violation of operating without a CUP for a long time and wondered why this was being done as a first-year violation.
Ossefoort explained that an old scoring system that had been implemented before his time with the county had pushed Drayna’s violations down the list.
Kircher said he believed this property had been in violation for ten or more years. He said this was a matter of a lack of enforcement.
County Attorney John Lindemann said that they could start to take action on this.
Kircher felt that this violation assessment was improper because it was not a first-year violation. . .