The Enforcer

Published 12:15 pm Friday, January 4, 2008

(People who wish to lodge a complaint about possible building code violations in Dalton can call enforcement officer Alan Parrish at (706) 278-6936.)



The temperature outside has barely risen past 20 degrees, but Dalton code enforcement officer Alan Parrish drives slowly down a street near Westwood School with his windows down.

“The last time I came by, I heard a rooster. But I couldn’t find it,” Parrish said.

The city of Dalton bans farm animals such as chickens within city limits, and part of Parrish’s job is making sure people know that.

He eases along, listening and looking.

Then he hears it, the clucking and crowing of chickens. But where are they?

His first pass down the street fails to uncover them, so he turns around and drives back down. The chicken sounds get louder, then he spots them. Behind a well-maintained brick house stands a chicken coop, with several large and loud birds.

Parrish parks in the driveway and opens a box of folders in the floorboard of his city of Dalton truck, pulling out the right form. Then he knocks on the door. He waits, knocks again, and still no answer. So he leaves the paper, informing any residents of the home they have seven days to remove the chickens or he’ll cite them and they’ll have to pay a fine. The amount of the fine depends on the nature of the violation and the number of violations.

Parrish says that in the seven months he has been on the job, he has issued dozens of warnings, but he has only had to cite one person for keeping chickens.

“They usually get rid of them pretty quickly,” he said.

Still, Parrish also visits several homes where he has previously issued chicken warnings, making sure they are still complying with the law. But today, all of those chicken coops stand empty.

Why would someone keep a chicken coop in their yard if they don’t have chickens?

“That’s a good question,” he said.

But Dalton doesn’t have any laws against chicken coops, just chickens.

Chickens are just one problem Parrish, the city’s only code enforcement officer, has to deal with.

Officials at the public works department have reported that someone has left a trash can filled with bricks, expecting city trash collection to pick it up. They won’t.

So Parrish pulls up to the house. The trash can is still there, still filled with bricks. Again, Parrish knocks several times and no one answers. So he leaves a notice telling the residents to remove the bricks from the trash can within 48 hours.

Then he drives across town where he’s had a report that someone has been using debris to fill in a hole in the backyard, another code violation. He finds a gentleman cleaning up the yard. But there’s a problem. Parrish doesn’t speak Spanish, and the man doesn’t speak much English. Despite the communication problem, Parrish finds out the man is just hired help and gets the phone number of the house’s owner from him.

But before he leaves, Parrish spots a few more problems he’ll discuss with the owner when he calls him later. There’s clearly work going on at the home but the owner hasn’t posted the required notice that he has a permit for the work. And Parrish says new windows that have been installed may not meet code.

As Parrish drives to the next problem location, he makes one of several stops that day to remove signs — for garage sales and businesses — that have been posted illegally in city right of way, then he’s off again.

Parrish gets tips on where problems may be from public works employees who’ve spotted them while working, from police officers who see them while patrolling, and from regular citizens.

When he gets a call, he says he follows up the next day, even quicker if it’s an emergency.

“If they are blocking a roadway or if someone is in danger, I go right then,” he said.

But often, he finds problems on his own.

“The biggest part of my day is just driving around and looking for problems,” he said.

Parrish said he drives 200 miles or more each week looking for violations of city building codes and issuing warnings.

Parrish, a Dalton native, formerly served as a Dalton police officer, a job he says helped him become familiar with all of the streets and alleys he now patrols.

“Alan has had a tremendous impact. He’s out there actively looking for things, working with people, and I think it shows,” said city administrator Butch Sanders.

But Parrish says his biggest task is education. Most people, he says, aren’t aware that whatever they are doing is illegal. And once they are made aware that, say, putting a refrigerator on the front porch is illegal, most people do what they need to comply with the law, he adds.

“I didn’t know the city had all of these rules until I took this job,” he said.

Sanders agrees.

“Everyone can’t be aware of all of our codes and requirements. But they are usually willing to comply when they are made aware of them by someone as helpful and positive as Alan,” Sanders said.



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People who wish to lodge a complaint about possible building code violations in Dalton can call enforcement officer Alan Parrish at (706) 278-6936.