This month’s topic is about the Presque Isle Code Enforcement Department. First let me explain the purpose of having codes in our city. Safety, health and the well being of all citizens are the primary overriding reasons of why our municipality adopts and enforces codes.
These codes can range from constructing commercial buildings to the plumbing or wiring in your residential home. Codes provide minimum safe guidelines for a person or contractor to build or renovate to.
Keep in mind some of the codes that are adopted and enforced by the city are mandated by the State of Maine and the Federal governments — like the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC) and the Maine State Plumbing Code. These codes include commercial and residential buildings.
The city also has various local ordinances. Ordinances set a certain standard the municipality has chosen to adopt. Implementation of the local ordinances like proper zoning, land uses, shoreland zoning and various other regulations of the Land Use Ordinance are assured through the Code Enforcement Office.
About three years ago the Code Enforcement Office was reorganized and relocated to the Presque Isle Fire Department. Having the Code Department part of the Fire Department helps in the entire process of implementing and enforcing the local codes. The Fire Department and Code Department have worked together for years on implementing the codes and ordinances the city has adopted. The Presque Isle Fire Department is now running with a Code Enforcement Division, with George Howe as the Code Enforcement Officer (CEO). We also have one firefighter who is an Assistant CEO and two other firefighters who can help with building codes.
One of our goals here at the Code Department is to assist the general public and contractors with many facets of their project. We are here to guide you through steps from design, permitting and compliance all the way to the completed project. The easiest way for the Code Office to help you avoid any unexpected pitfalls is to bring the Code Office into the process early on in your project. By working together we can help in avoiding any unnecessary overruns in your project due to parts of the project not meeting codes. All of this assistance is provided to the public free of charge.
Anyone who has any questions or needs assistance please feel free to stop by our office at 43 North Street. Or call us at 760-2703. We also can be reached by email at ghowe@presqueisleme.us.
George Howe is code enforcement officer for the city of Presque Isle. He was assisted in writing this article by Deputy CEO Vince Baldwin.
