Mount Vernon Optic-Herald

Permits and inspection fee costs continue to be a heated issue at meetings of the Mount Vernon City Council. After two months of complaints about the high costs of the outsourced inspections, the council may be moving toward looking at another option.
Most of the council agreed Tuesday night, Nov. 9, that  they need to investigate reduced cost for stand alone inspections (things that do not require a licensed inspector to determine their existence or condition). How that is to be done is another matter.
Councilman Jasper Scott stated he was not happy about the costs of some of the inspections. “A $120 [fee] for a gas check is ridiculous,” he said. “Another organization has given us some figures, but are not willing to do all we require.”
Councilwoman Libby Milton was incredulous that as a member of the council she was not made aware of talks with other entities. “I should know if there is another company looking at this, we need to put this discussion off to a workshop and all get on the same page,” she stressed. At this week’s meeting, Mrs. Sears reported that the policies and fees put in place by the city were adversely affecting the citizens. She related an incident in which a renter called with a stopped up washing machine drain line. After finally finding a plumber, the man out of Mount Pleasant told she and her husband that he would no longer service calls in the Mount Vernon city limits stating that it was due to the permits and fees. For more details from the meeting, see the Nov. 11 edition of the Mount Vernon Optic-Herald. If you would like to share your opinion of the fee structure instituted by the City of Mount Vernon, please leave a comment.