Chillicothe — The city had to pay the county for fill-in code enforcement. Steve Barnes, engineering chair in Chillicothe council, saw his ordinance pass on second reading to give $14,500 to the Ross County Engineer’s office for borrowing their personnel, in the September 9th session.
Barnes said that, among resignations in the city code enforcement and engineering departments, their new chief building officer had unexpectedly left after being on the job for only a few months.
Barnes said they did not want any lapse of services, so the city had to pay for outside help “to keep the city functioning.”
The new hire was still commuting from the Columbus area, and took a better-paying job in that area, Barnes said. He noted that here is much demand for trained and “field licensed” people, who are somewhat scarce and thus valuable.
Hear Barnes in his own words in the below interview video.
