Brown County commissioners table draft construction-code resolution pending staff clarification

The Brown County Commission on Thursday discussed a draft resolution that would adopt state construction codes as the county’s baseline standard for government construction projects, then voted to table the item for further staff review.

The proposal, introduced as a draft resolution, would "adopt as a standard for construction projects performed by contractors and or professionals within Brown County" state construction codes and would defer to more stringent city codes where those apply, Commissioner Connor said. "This is a baseline for how construction will be done in Brown County," Connor said, arguing the language would allow the county to point back to an accepted standard if a county contract later led to litigation.

Commissioner Bill said he was concerned the measure, as drafted, might be perceived as a new mandate for small local contractors and questioned how accessible the code documents are to individual tradespeople. "I'm not strongly in favor of it," Bill said, adding that some code books are lengthy and costly for independent contractors to obtain.

County counselor Austin Parker told the board the draft is intended for government projects and not to regulate private homeowners. "This is not about homeowners," a county official noted in discussion; officials emphasized the draft would apply to county government projects and contracts rather than to residential work.

After back-and-forth about wording and enforcement mechanisms — including whether the draft should explicitly limit application to county contracts and state property — the commission agreed to send the draft to staff (Austin) for clarification and to revisit the item at a future workshop or the next meeting. Chair Richard made the motion to table the item; it was seconded and approved by voice vote.

The commission did not take a final vote on adopting the codes. Staff were directed to provide clarified language that specifies the draft’s scope, enforcement implications and how it would interact with incorporated cities’ codes before the commission resumes deliberation.