Morrison resigns as code officer

GARFIELD — After being sworn in as one of the two newest members to the Garfield Planning Commission, Zannie Morrison quietly presented his letter of resignation as city code enforcement officer to Planning Commission chairman Gayla Schuster.

“This is off the record,” Morrison said, as he showed his resignation letter to planners. “Until the City Council passes an ordinance allowing me to be both (planner and code enforcement officer), I couldn’t officially be both.”

Mayor Gary Blackburn issued

the oath of office to Morrison and Andy Shook at the beginning of the Planning Commission meeting Thursday, July 28.

Morrison is paid $40 per inspection, he said, as the code enforcement officer.

“I wanted on this because codes was what I was doing,” Morrison said. “Not to toot my own horn, but if you start looking from feed store, you’ll see how many places we’ve cleaned up. I’ve talked to approximately 40 different places.

“I only made four people mad at me,” he said. “I made a lot of friends. I tell them it’s come to my attention, they need to clean up a little bit … they do it and they smile.”

Morrison said he had given his resignation to the mayor that day.

“My whole purpose, honestly, was to help clean up Garfield … but I would rather be on here than code, but I would still love to be code enforcement officer,” he told fellow planners. “I think Mr. Blackburn’s going to try to get an ordinance so I can do code, too.”

Planners received the lot split request from Charlie Pearce, who, along with Gary Eckol, owns Elkhorn Liquors LLC, which proposes to build on U.S. Highway 62. Neighboring landowner Greg Jones told planners he gave Pearce permission for an exit off his land.

“There is a recorded easement as part of the survey,” Jones told planners, adding “the idea was it would be a whole lot safer to pull in on the west side and exit on the east side.”

Planners approved a request for a mobile home for Linda Casey on land owned by Bill and Debbie Hamilton.

In other business, planners discussed the city’s sign ordinance, contemplating various changes.

Planner Trish Lee mentioned a sign on “Tina’s car lot that we never approved.” She said she didn’t know if the business has a city permit for a car lot.