The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

The city of Grand Coulee took an encouraging step last week, appointing an employee to the job of enforcing city codes.

That means someone at the city will be charged with talking to people whose properties don’t meet those codes, such as “nuisance ordinances,” which basically prohibit the kind of unsightly messes some properties end up displaying for any number of reasons.

For a long time, the city has been less than enthusiastic (and, at some points in the past, downright hostile) about such an enforcement policy. Because of that, values of nearby properties suffer, as do the equities of those who own the property and the tax revenues collected on those values. It’s a downward spiral.

So the appointment of a code enforcer represents a significant turn-around in city policy, one we hope to see bloom in the future with a better-looking city of which we can all be proud.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher