{"id":20260,"date":"2019-11-22T13:08:07","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T20:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=61617"},"modified":"2019-11-24T17:12:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T00:12:00","slug":"granby-revisits-town-code-as-enforcement-officer-continues-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/granby-revisits-town-code-as-enforcement-officer-continues-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Granby revisits town code as enforcement officer continues work"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Rich Carlson is Granby’s first code enforcement officer and has held the position since July 2018. A Granby citizen brought up concerns the code might be difficult for him to enforce at a town meeting last week.<\/strong>
Amy Golden \/ agolden@skyhinews.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Rich Carlson started as Granby\u2019s code enforcement officer in July 2018. It was a new position, and in the 16 months since then, he has worked with a goal in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cTreat others the way you want to be treated and give help when help is needed,\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n

As the position has evolved, Carlson has made progress by approaching problems with this mindset.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, Granby is improving and is going to continue to improve,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cIt goes easier with the help and participation of its residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Carlson continues beautification efforts, he says the code can become a barrier to enforcing certain violations. He referenced the legal jargon and archaic language in some parts of the code where definitions could be better.<\/p>\n

This is a concern Granby resident John Rankin brought to the town board meeting last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I would like the board to do is have the attorney interpret these codes, see what\u2019s enforceable and what\u2019s not enforceable,\u201d Rankin told to the board. \u201cWhat\u2019s not enforceable, let\u2019s either throw it out or augment it so it is enforceable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rankin pointed to provisions in town code referencing refuse, rubbish and trash as the parts he believes need the most work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of code, so on my end I just want to see clearer and more precise definitions,\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n

According to town attorney Scott Krob, some parts of the town code have not been updated since the 1970s. With direction from the town board, the attorney could look at parts of the code and update it \u2014 but definitions can get tricky.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certain areas of code enforcement that are more problematic than others,\u201d Krob said at the town meeting. \u201cNuisance is one area. What constitutes a nuisance? How do you define it objectively? Trash is another: How do you define what is trash and what is just a collectable?\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlson said one of the biggest challenges he faced entering the role was building a code enforcement unit from the ground up using a code that had not been enforced.<\/p>\n

As part of dealing with that challenge, Carlson built up an arsenal of local resources<\/a> to help residents get rid of refuse that may be violating code. Those resources include Rocky Mountain Lawyers, the Granby Transfer Station, Grand Fire Protection District, Clive Smith and Harms & Sons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout those resources, I would have had a hard time doing my job and that would have put an extra burden on the property owners,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cThose resources deserve a big thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The town board and public spoke highly of these processes, which not only boost the town\u2019s image, but do so by solving issues residents might be facing. Hopper Becker was one resident who praised Carlson at the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be really careful, in my opinion, about telling people what they have to do with their little castles,\u201d Becker said. \u201cI think Rich has done a very good job of that. He\u2019s approached me very respectfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Board members agreed it would be worth revisiting the code.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly run into a problem that if we have rules on the books that we don\u2019t enforce, it does create a challenge down the road,\u201d Trustee Natascha O\u2019Flaherty said.<\/p>\n

The board gave legal direction to the town attorney to look at specific refuse, rubbish and trash ordinances. However, a few Granby residents attending the meeting said the town code should not go too far.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that by choosing to live in town I come under the auspices of the rules and regulations, but at the same time I own my property,\u201d Becker said. \u201cThat is my little piece of America that\u2019s mine. Nobody else\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is something Carlson said he tries to be aware of when doing his job.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to find that balance between what the town wants and what\u2019s good for Granby,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cI keep what\u2019s good for Granby in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his time as code enforcement officer, Carlson said the biggest areas where he sees violations are snow removal, overnight parking, vehicles that don\u2019t run and \u201cgeneral good neighbor stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the most part, Carlson said he only has to reach out to property owners once for a violation to be fixed. Most interactions are \u201cgood neighbor requests,\u201d with him knocking on the door or sending a letter to property owners who don\u2019t live in town asking for violations to be fixed.<\/p>\n

\u201cCode enforcement is not an overnight fix,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cIt\u2019s an ongoing process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlson continues to bolster his role in the community, focusing on outreach, updating the town code website<\/a> and making the code more available and user friendly.<\/p>\n

 \u201cThank you for respecting our rights as property owners and individuals, and thank you for continuing to respect that,\u201d Becker said to the town board. \u201cAnd guess what? I\u2019m going to try to respect the town back by continuing to improve my property.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rich Carlson is Granby’s first code enforcement officer and has held the position since July 2018. A Granby citizen brought up concerns the code might be difficult for him to enforce at a town meeting last week.Amy Golden \/ agolden@skyhinews.com Rich Carlson started as Granby\u2019s code enforcement officer in July 2018. It was a new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-16 02:16:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20278,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20260\/revisions\/20278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}