City hires property code investigator

COSHOCTON – The City of Coshocton hired Jon Cotterman as its new property code investigator.

Cotterman retired from teaching industrial arts at Coshocton High School and now has his own home inspection business.

“We are very grateful for Jon and the skills and mindset he brings with him,” said Mayor Steve Mercer.  “We look forward to him being a part of the city’s team.”

Cotterman will start his new job on Tuesday, July 5 and will report to Service Director Jerry Stenner.

The announcement was made at the Coshocton City Council June 27 meeting where a Hay Place Avenue resident shared concerns about his neighborhood.

The resident was concerned about the amount of vehicles parked on his street and that it seems some of them hardly ever move. He stated that they make it difficult for emergency vehicles and garbage trucks to navigate the street.

“Thank you for your comments, interests and concerns,” said City Council President Cliff Biggers. “We appreciate you coming forward.”

Stenner shared that paving will start on Otsego Avenue in early August and it is scheduled to be completed by the time school starts.

Coshocton City Law Director Bob Skelton presented council with a list of properties with code violations that his office is working on. Most of them have been taking care of, but a few are still being investigated.

“There are three people in my office working on this, plus the health department and Jerry,” Skelton said. “If something is not accurate on them please let me know. I’m hoping to be able to give you something one time a month to let you know what is going on.”

He also presented amendments to ordinance 21-16, which established regulations of towers in the city of Coshocton.

“I wanted to make it more difficult for towers to be put in residential districts,” Skelton said.

The ordinance specifies where the towers can be located, how they are designed and the aesthetics of them.

Council accepted the amendments and passed the ordinance after giving it a third and final reading.

There was a company inquiring about placing a cell phone tower in town, but Skelton has not heard any more from them.  Biggers shared that he was glad that if and when another request is made, the city will have an ordinance with specifications ready.

Category: Government