Several White County residents took the opportunity to address county commissioners during the February meeting about their concerns with the new Health and Safety Standards.
The board approved a resolution, in August 2020, to adopt the new Health and Safety Standards and appoint a Health and Safety Board made up of seven commissioners as well as appoint a new enforcement officer. However, because of language in a specific Tennessee law, the resolution is not enforceable until the state’s general assembly makes an amendment to Tennessee Code Annotated 1-5-115. Then, in December 2020, commissioners approved a resolution asking local state legislators to sponsor a bill asking for the amendment. But, since that time, many residents have begun voicing their concerns about the details of the new standard. At this time, State Senator Paul Bailey and State Representative Paul Sherrell have not taken the amendment to the general assembly, both stating they feel the county needs to be sure they are representing the wishes of the majority of their constituents before they proceed.
Rodger Eyman, who owns property in the Cassville area of the county, approached the commission and stated it was his suggestion the resolution should have been brought before the residents of White County.
“In reference to Resolution 40-08-2020, I guess my best suggestion for this is to put before the voting as opposed to being approved by council,” he said and then clarified, after questioning from chairman Stanley Neal, which resolution he was referring to. “[The] resolution adopting regulations governing Health and Safety Standards for residential and non-residential properties.”
“What bothers me most is that the person who put this together - there are several misspelling errors. I think the next time a resolution is put together, there should be somebody to review it and check the spelling.”
County Executive Denny Wayne Robinson asked for permission to address the statement by Eyman, and, when granted, stated the misspelling is only in the last paragraph of the resolution.
“That is because there was a resolution to amend that, and it was handwritten out,” Robinson claimed. “It was typed out after that, and they didn’t want to alter anything that came out of the meeting. The original resolution didn’t have any misspelling.”
After Eyman finished speaking, his son, Dan Larsen, who Eyman pointed out doesn’t own property in the county but responded that he was speaking on behalf of his mother, Donna Eyman, approached the microphone.
“I have a couple of concerns,” Larsen told the commissioners. “This was voted on last August, and I went on the website. And I couldn’t see anything that points to having the public an opportunity to having a hearing before a resolution like this was voted on. The other thing is it cites this – there is no mention in the state code about this international maintenance code. So it is referring to something that isn’t even identified in the state code as to what this is going to go by.”
Larsen then continued with a third point of contention he had with the resolution.
“A lot of residents in this county own property that they might just use as vacation residence, and they aren’t here the rest of the time,” he said. “If you give 10-day notice and they aren’t here or they are on vacation, they can be already in arrears four days when they return and have no opportunity to be notified that they are in violation against this code. Just the way it is written is not too well. That’s all I’m saying.”
Tanya Rust, who identified herself as living in the city limits, took a turn addressing White County commissioner. When she was finished, she received a round of applause from the residents who were in attendance.
“My biggest concern is the international codes counsel,” Rust said. “I have a copy, and there are a lot of legal terms. Unless you have been around legal persons, you are going to have a lot of time going back and forth from this to the dictionary. It’s a one-size-fits-all model for a perfect world. I feel like this is a tax on the already poor, and it is unfair. I think asking the state to change a law to implement this is horrifying. We would be one of the poorest counties that would have this type of regulation.”
Rust then went on to talk about the terminology in the resolution and claiming that the commissioners stated t they were going to use the Merriam-Webster dictionary for clarification.
“Vermin was one of the words,” she said. “Do you know that ‘vermin’ can be considered an offensive person according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary? Would you be violated if you were considered to be an offensive person? Also, they considered rodents [to include] rabbits and shrews according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.”
Rust told commissioners she felt more clarification was necessary. She then went on to express her feelings that unkept properties would be a better matter for civil courts, with one property owner taking another to court. She stated that doing this would keep the county from needing to spend any money on the enforcement of the codes.
“Have you even looked into the possibility of that?” she asked. “Those two people would be financially responsible for that, not the entire county.”
The final member of the audience who chose to speak during the Feb. 22 meeting was Connie Davis.
“I don’t have no legal mumbo-jumbo; I just think it’s unconstitutional,” she stated. “It’s wrong. Nobody in this building anywhere has a right to tell anybody how to live. I don’t care who you are. It’s unconstitutional.”
As is customary, the board was not required to respond to the statements made by the residents and none of the commissioners asked to do so.
In other business, the court approved the following resolutions:
The board also approved seven notary applications and approved a new resolution presented by Cain Rogers and seconded by Dakota White to approve a settlement agreement between White County and Edd’s Trailers Inc. for an acquisition of all collateral in possession of the county and a mutual release of all claims.
There were nine of 14 commissioners present - eight in person, and Dale Bennett appeared virtually. All resolutions were met with unanimous approval. Commissioners Andy Haston, Dillard Quick, Terry Alley, and Lee Broyles were absent, and the seat vacated by Bobby McCulley will not be filled until the next regular called meeting.
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