Post Date:05/16/2022 2:05 PMCollierville is often ranked as one of the country’s most desirable suburbs. This is in large part due to the low crime rates, exceptional schools, and the visual appeal of the Town itself. While the Collierville Police Department does an exceptional job of keeping residents safe and the Grounds and Parks Maintenance team meticulously beautifies Collierville’s surroundings, the Codes Division is also working behind the scenes to have unsightly code violations and safety hazards eliminated from the Town.
The Codes Division is the team responsible for enforcing the codes that were put in place to keep Collierville’s environment at a high standard. The ultimate goal of code enforcement is to maintain property values by ensuring that the Town is a safe, clean, family friendly place to live and work. The Town is now hiring more Code Compliance Officers and a Building Inspector to continue to achieve that goal.
Typical duties of Code Compliance Officers involve receiving and responding to citizen complaints, administering building and home inspections, conducting investigations and following up with resolutions, and working with construction developers as well as residents and businesses. The Building Inspector also enforces Town codes and ordinances and performs investigative work in the inspection of Collierville’s commercial, residential, and industrial properties for compliance with building, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC code requirements.
Codes Compliance Officer, Donald Johnston, says of his position, “It is very rewarding to take a negative and turn it into a positive. I like when I am able to communicate with folks and we work together to get the issue resolved.”
Johnston believes that the most important characteristic of someone in his position is diplomacy. He takes an informative and helpful approach to each one of his cases. For first time offenders he tries to be as non-confrontational as possible. He takes the time to give them a courtesy phone call to inform the resident of their violation. If the person is unavailable by phone, he will leave them a notice at their home. He also provides ample time for violations to be corrected. The most common violations involve grass and weeds, junk vehicles, fences, and exterior paint.
“Most residents understand where the Town is coming from and correct their violations. Codes are important because they keep Collierville’s quality of life high,” says Johnston.
