JAY — Selectmen plan to meet with an aide to Gov. Paul LePage on Monday, July 23, to discuss their concerns over the state’s Uniform Building and Energy Code effect on residents.
The board and Town Manager Ruth Cushman had sent a letter to the governor in June asking for an opportunity to meet with him to discuss the code.
John Butera of the governor’s office will meet with town officials in Augusta.
The building and energy code went into effect on July 1 for towns with populations of 4,000 or more. The code has been in effect since 2010 for towns that already had adopted building codes.
Jay voters rejected adoption of a local administrative ordinance to oversee the state’s code on June 12.
The law requires building permits and occupancy permits to be issued and inspections for new structures or renovations to existing buildings, among other objectives.
Town officials requested the governor’s assistance to make the code a less demanding mandate on property owners in Jay. Some surrounding towns do not have to comply with a building code because they are under the 4,000 population requirement to trigger the code.
Just like Gov. LePage does not want the federal government to mandate health care to Maine, Jay doesn’t want the state to mandate the code to the town, Cushman said.
The town is expected to enforce the code and issue permits, but Jay does not have a budget to oversee it.
Residents feel the state is trying to take away more local control, Cushman said previously.
“We really feel that the State of Maine is taking away another right of Home Rule and imposing another mandate,” Cushman said in June. “We truly feel that this will inhibit construction in our community and drive more to the communities under 4,000 in population where the code is not mandatory and thus creating an uneven playing field.”
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