CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Bradley County's new building codes faced a challenge to stay on the books within minutes of their adoption on Monday.
At the heart of the conflict was whether the county should adopt the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code and 2012 International Codes pertaining to building, fire protection, plumbing, fuel gas and mechanical standards, as recommended by Commissioner Charlotte Peak, a building contractor.
After a sometimes passionate discussion, the Bradley County Commission voted 8-5 to adopt the new standards.
Commission Chairman Louie Alford and Commissioners Milan Blake, Johnny Mull, Robert Rominger, Mark Hall, Mike Hughes and Thomas Crye supported Peak's proposal. Vice Chairman Jeff Yarber and Commissioners Bobby Goins, Howard Thompson, Dan Rawls and Terry Caywood opposed adoption of the codes.
Opponents of the new codes cited increased homebuilding costs, the loss of local government control and negative feedback from county residents as reasons for not supporting the standards.
"I work for the people in my district, and I'm going to vote the way they want me to vote," said Thompson, explaining that far more constituents had voiced opposition to the new codes than were in favor of them.
The 2009 and 2012 codes replace Bradley County's current codes, which date back to 2006 and were adopted in 2010.
Tennessee law requires local governments have codes that are within seven years of the current standards, Peak said. The 2015 International Codes are more stringent, she said.
Immediately after the vote to approve the new codes, the commission voted 8-5 against a proposal by Rawls to opt out of statewide building code standards for one- and two-family dwellings.
The County Commission votes fell along the exact same lines as the decision to adopt the new codes. A two-thirds vote of support for Rawls' proposal would have ended the county's new codes before they really began.
"I think this vote will show who is for small government and who's against it -- who's for allowing the state and federal government to come in and dictate ... what you're going to do," Rawls said before the opt-out vote.
While not officially part of his recommendation to opt out of statewide building standards, Rawls said that his plan ultimately called for the county to simply adopt current 2006 codes as a "Bradley County Code."
Peak expressed concern about Rawls' goal of readopting the 2006 codes, citing text from Tennessee Code which addresses the ability of local governments to opt out of statewide standards.
The state "does not support any code that is not as stringent or more stringent than what the state has adopted," Peak said.
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. Email him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com.