By Billy Davis

The slow-moving plan to introduce building codes in unincorporated Panola County could get a jump start next month when county supervisors explore the issue with the land development commission.

Supervisors and commissioners agreed on March 9 to gather at the commission’s next meeting, scheduled for April 13 in Sardis.

If the two sides confer, a first order of business would be to review and discuss elements of the International Building Code (IBC), an exhaustive set of construction regulations.

Supervisors who were present Monday, Gary Thompson and Bubba Waldrup, requested a copy of the IBC summary prior to the planned April meeting.

Thompson serves as president of the board.

The land commission is led by chairman Danny Walker.

 Supervisors and commissioners might also discuss the hiring of a building inspector, they said. 

Building codes are common in municipalities, including Batesville, to ensure that residential and commercial construction is built to a minimum standard. The most common benchmark used to enforce building codes is the IBC.

Without codes in place, homes, churches, stores and shopping centers are built without a second party to evaluate the structure’s framing, electrical, and plumbing.

Advocates of building codes say their use improves health and safety, and protects property values. 

Building codes are less common in rural areas, though builders in neighboring counties Tate, Coahoma and Tunica also follow the IBC outside the city limits of Clarksdale and Senatobia.

The land commission voted last year, at its August meeting, to formally recommend that Panola County supervisors adopt building codes.

The issue gained ground through most of last year after Panola County experienced nine fire-related deaths, a state record, in 2007.

Supervisor Robert Avant, who passed away last August, said at the time that any building codes adopted should improve older mobile homes that pose fire hazards. Some older mobile homes are known to include wiring that is considered less safe than newer models.

A Tunica County inspector, invited by the commission to describe his work, has also encouraged the commission to tackle the issue of unsafe mobile homes. Tunica County does not inspect them, he said. 

But the land commission, concerned about a public backlash, eventually excluded any inspection of existing structures.

Introducing building codes would ensure that contractors follow the same guidelines they follow in Batesville, said construction contractor Jeff Swindoll.

“I’m going to build (in the county) just as I would in the city, but a lot of guys don’t,” Swindoll said. “They cut corners. They’re doing substandard work.”

When supervisors hire a building inspector, Swindoll said the inspector should be experienced – “no on-the-job training,” he said.

When told the commissioners had discussed a part-time inspector, Swindoll voiced concern.

“What if I’m pouring a slab, and it’s about to rain, and I’m waiting for a part-time inspector?” Swindoll asked. “The inspector should be there, like in Batesville, within two hours of a phone call.”

Batesville engineer Byron Houston, who has appeared before the commission on past projects, has been observing Panola County’s slow progress toward building codes.

“The building codes would mean you can’t throw something together and call it a house,” Houston said. “But there’s a fine line between killing development and encouraging it.”

The critical task for supervisors and commissioners, Houston said, is for them to find that “fine line.”