It has been a common trend to get marijuana growers violating the regulations as set up by most states. Well, it looks like Jackson County has had enough when it comes to such violations. It is the reason it has now raised the maximum raised from $10,000 to $20,000 for the code violations. This is because the officials feel that the illegal marijuana growers seem not to be deterred by the current $10,000 fine. County commission Rick Dyer claims that many of the illegal growers have been ignoring the county ordinances and thus the need for them to change things a bit.
The commissioners had discussed these fines back in October, but the vote took place this month to decide on whether to raise the fines or not.
You might think that with such an issue, all the commissioners would be on board with the proposal. It seems that was not the case as commissioner Collen Roberts opposed it. He said that the move would likely to impact more than just the marijuana growers.
It is expected that the increase in the fines would be effective as of Jan 8, 2018. County Administrator Danny Jordan agrees that some of the marijuana growers are taking advantage of the low fine to game the system. They will always violate the codes unless someone is willing to show them otherwise. Most of the violation comes during the growing season and then they get to harvest their crops before the enforcement process can be completed. It seems like this has been a problem has there for a while as more complaints have been received over time.
It has been a problem for the county year after year, but it seems they have had enough so far. Normally, the county would approach the code enforcement by being lenient. They would seek voluntary compliance from the growers first. This means that the growers are given a window of time to comply with the codes. There are times that the growers would ask the county staff for continuances on cases affecting them. This in turn would stretch the enforcement timeline.
Such violations are due to the system manipulation and there is nothing much that can be done. There is no doubt that the marijuana operations in the county are lucrative. It is the reason you get some people making more money and in turn violating rules and disregarding the penalties. If a grower is making over $1 million, you cannot expect such a grower to care much about the set fine.
It is not just the marijuana growers that are frustrating the neighbors and the county. The same thing is being done by property owners who allow for garbage, broken vehicles and other types of debris to accumulate on their land. This is something that frustrates the neighbors and still take the time of code enforcement workers who could be working on something else.
The $20,000 fine will be effective as from January, but what most people do not know are the severe penalties the county could use. An example is that when a profit business violates the codes, it could be fined twice the profits. We can now only wait and see how the new fine would be implemented.
