Building inspector resigns
By Elizabeth Billips Associate Editor

The City of Waynesboro needs a new building inspector.

Veteran inspector Ronnie Baxley tendered his resignation Tuesday morning, just 14 hours after city council adopted a new building code ordinance.

Although Baxley didn't attend the meeting, he did sit down with the public safety committee last week, taking issue with section 8 - a state statute he said was opinion-based and difficult to enforce.

At that same meeting, Mayor Jesse Stone maintained that the code's purpose was not to "tie (Baxley's) hands," but to provide some flexibility with non-safety issues, like bathrooms, in older buildings.

Monday night, several downtown businessmen and developers urged city council to adopt the ordinance, as did members of the Downtown Development Authority who submitted a letter voicing their unanimous support.

City council made short order of pushing the ordinance through, 4-1, with the only opposition coming from Dick Byne.

"I feel like people are blaming Ronnie for businesses that are struggling," he said. "If this ordinance passes, we're going to look back and say Ronnie wasn't the cause."

Mayor Stone said he wasn't blaming anybody and that the new ordinance wouldn't create any radical changes in Waynesboro building inspection practices.

"This is not a referendum on Ronnie," he said. "It's just a good ordinance that we need to take advantage of.

Tuesday afternoon, Coalson said Baxley's resignation had not been officially accepted, due to technicalities with separating his dual position as both building inspector and fire chief.

"I'm working with (city attorney) Chris Dube to figure out the proper way to handle this," he said, confirming that Baxley will retain his fire chief position.

Coalson said Baxley is paid nearly $50,000 for the combined jobs, and that city council will probably have to approve his "change of duty" before the two positions can be singled out.