Code officer McLarnan among nation’s best

by Carol Crump
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 9:05 AM MST

Natrona County’s zoning code enforcement officer, Linda McLarnan, is one of the best in the country at what she does.

She’s got the certificate from the national nonprofit American Association of Code Enforcement to prove it.

McLarnan, who was nominated for the honor by Casper-Natrona County Health Department registered environmental health specialist Audrey Gray, qualified in the top 12 for the 2008 Code Enforcement Officer of the Year award.

All of the 1,237 members in 36 states were eligible for nomination to the honor. McLarnan was the first in Wyoming to finish in the final selection group.

At the close of the competition in October, the Natrona County employee tied with a female code enforcement officer from Texas for second place.

Code enforcement is a profession that’s now dominated by women, McLarnan said. Of the 12 finalists for Code Enforcement Officer of the Year, only one was male.

“Women are better at seeing outside the box, that everything is a workable situation,” McLarnan said.

The former worker at the Wyoming women’s prison in Lusk applied for the enforcement job after two months as a county permit technician. For the last four years, she has been the only zoning code enforcement officer for the county’s 5,586 square miles.

McLarnan said her prison work trained her to read people, a skill that’s been helpful in dealing with people and entities like the health department, county law enforcement and Metro Animal Control.

Code enforcement can be dangerous -- an Aurora, Colo., code enforcement officer recently was shot and killed. So the County’s sole enforcer said she depends on cooperation from entities like the health and the sheriff’s departments.

“The County has eyesore areas that are violations -- some take a while,” she said. “Everybody’s junk is precious to them.”

There were approximately 760 properties in the system that needed cleaning up when McLarnan took the job four years ago. Some of the properties had been noncompliant since the 1970s.

In her time in the job, she’s cleared 300 properties and hasn’t had to take anyone to court, which would have cost the County additional money.

“I couldn’t afford the fines that are $750 a day per violation,” she said. “I’d rather work with people.”

McLarnan’s “firm but fair and consistent” approach works in a vast county with rural areas that sometimes has squatters or buyers who think rules and zoning don’t apply outside the city limits.

Her strategies to address what could become contentious health and safety issues include using shortcuts she’s developed to get a property into compliance. She may give them a little more time than the 10 days allowed by county code.

McLarnan also has developed ways to generate money for the property owner from things like tires and junked trailers that they are required to remove.

Two years ago, she initiated countywide cleanup days. The County provided roll-off dumpsters in several locations like Houma Hills and Cole Creek Road for citizens to use to drop off general garbage, tires and metal for disposal or recycling.

With continued support from businesses, the County and the balefill, McLarnan hopes to continue to offer the dumpster drop-off sites to outlying areas of the county at least once a year.

The code enforcement officer’s reward for doing a stressful job that she loves sometimes comes from the comments of people after the cleanup is over.

“A woman said to me, ‘I really wanted to do this, but I needed a swift kick. You made me do it,’” McLarnan said. “It makes you feel like you’ve done something for the people of the county.”

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