Code of Conduct and Conductivity

By St. Mary's Commissioner Larry Jarboe

There is no handbook or official training program to qualify a person to be a County Commissioner. Every day is a learning experience with new challenges unique to St. Mary’s County.
This week, our commissioner board held two public hearings regarding building and electric codes.
We use the standardized International Building Code and the International Residential Code for the fundamental basis of our code and add local amendments to construct the St. Mary’s Building Code. The 2003 code update is the most recent publication for us to adopt.
Back in 1995, Commissioner Chris Brugman, Code Coordinator Harry Knight, and I drafted simple exemptions to this code which have remained a part of our heritage ten years later. We recognized that farmers are perfectly capable of building their barns and pole sheds without governmental interference. A permit is not necessary to build an agricultural building on agriculturally assessed land in St. Mary’s County.

We recognized that farmers are perfectly capable of building their barns and pole sheds without governmental interference.

We also knew that residential homeowners in our affluent rural county needed decent sized space to store their stuff. A storage shed up to three hundred feet of floor space outside of the critical area can be built without applying for governmental permission.
The code even takes notice that we have a community of Amish and Mennonite builders who craft their homes using locally cut timber. No grade stamp is required if the lumber is milled to full dimension. That means a 2x4 is really 2 inches x 4 inches not 1.5 inches x 3.5 inches.
These local amendments have stood the test of time and are still in our code.
The 1995 National Electric Code with our local amendments is up for review for the County Commissioners to adopt the 2005 National Electric Code with local amendments as the St. Mary’s County Electrical Code.


.... but through questioning we discovered the homeowner would have to take an electricians test to do this simple job if we were to adopt this code as presented.

During the public hearing, Commissioner Dan Raley asked if a homeowner could legally route speaker wires or a burglar alarm through his or her walls without hiring a licensed electrician. The answer was yes, but through questioning we discovered the homeowner would have to take an electricians test to do this simple job if we were to adopt this code as presented.
Commissioner Tommy Mattingly homed in on this issue using his life experience working for the phone company and identified the portion of the code this change had been made much to our chagrin. He also noted that phone wires could not be routed by homeowners without taking and passing the test.
I asked if there was ever a fire or other disaster caused by homeowners installing their own stereos or extra phone lines in St. Mary’s County. The answer was no, but it had happened elsewhere in the Country.
We have not adopted this legislation as we are still in the public hearing phase. I am grateful that my fellow commissioners Dan Raley and Tommy Mattingly picked up this subtle change that was not specifically brought forward during the presentation.
Building and electric codes are a very important means to protect the public welfare, however, there are limits. I believe that minimum voltage systems like stereos, phones, and even burglar alarms can be installed safely by people with a little common sense.
Do you think government should oversee the installation of your stereo speaker system?