Fourth quarter, full-year building reports released

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Jan 30, 20200

Dan Gladwill, county building inspector, delivered year-end and fourth-quarter building reports to county commissioners Jan. 21.

“A little short of most of the years past,” Gladwill said of the last quarter.

For the year-end, it was as expected.

“About average, but the fourth quarter was slow,” said Mark Storey, Public Works director.

The top three commercial projects for the year were $2.6 million for the St. John Hardware and Implement retail and shop buildings at the state line; $525,000 for a shop building at the Mockonema McGregor plant and $166,000 for the McCoy Land Company grain pads project at Dusty.

“I hear that, more likely, more stuff is to come (around the St. John Hardware project),” Gladwill said. “Keep the building department busy that way.”

In year-end numbers, total fees came to $108,617, compared to a previous six-year high of $166,104 in 2015, the year of the CHS Primeland fertilizer plant project at Port of Wilma. The low was $72,316 in 2016.

The 2019 total was right in line with the past two years, as 2017 came in at $107,599 and for 2018, $108,912.

Total permits issued last year for single family dwellings were 11, plus five manufactured homes and 32 commercial permits. Total inspections were 402, compared to a previous six-year high of 514.

“Whitman County Building Department chugs along on pole barns and a few houses every year,” said Gladwill. “When a big commercial project comes along, it pushes up the numbers. (The county) is a lot of space with not a lot of people.”

In the fourth quarter, total fees came to $9,529, a six-year low. Total valuations were $1,055,440, compared to the six-year high of $34,515 in 2015.