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Rockland County launches Office of Buildings and Codes

Rockland County Executive Ed Day, left, and new County Office of Buildings and Codes Director Ed Markunas.
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Rockland County Executive Ed Day, left, and new County Office of Buildings and Codes Director Ed Markunas.

Following a unanimous vote by the Rockland County Legislature last week to fund the project, County Executive Ed Day on Monday launched a new County Office of Buildings and Codes. The Republican says the new office will assume responsibility for enforcing zoning codes in the village of Spring Valley as ordered by New York State.

“I also want to make it clear that the county of Rockland has no interest in permanently operating the village’s building department and in fact our mission is to fix it and move on,” Day said. “That is precisely what the state order says and that’s the end result we are looking to achieve.”

Day says the state will determine when to transfer the department back to village control. The county takeover comes after a March 2021 fire at the Evergreen Court Home for Adults that killed a resident and Spring Valley fire firefighter Jared Lloyd.

“We are correcting dangerous conditions that put lives at risk,” Day said. “We all know. We’ve already lost a hero firefighter in Spring Valley. We can like that to happen ever again.”

In June, the Rockland County District Attorney announced charges against six people in connection with the fire, including two village employees.

Jim is WAMC’s Associate News Director and hosts WAMC's flagship news programs: Midday Magazine, Northeast Report and Northeast Report Late Edition. Email: jlevulis@wamc.org