Stan Waltz

Stan Waltz straddles both Waldoboro and Nobleboro.  He’s the code enforcement officer for both towns. His home is in Nobleboro, but his property extends into Waldoboro.  He loves Nobleboro, but he can’t imagine a more beautiful spot than Waldoboro’s Quarry Hill.  You could say his heart lies in two places. Stan started working at nine, first selling greeting cards door to door, then delivering “Grit,” a weekly about rural living, then mowing lawns for Camp Kiev and later, tarring roads for the state.  After graduation he stayed with the state.  When his draft notice arrived, he enlisted in the Navy.  He served four years on two reserve ships based off Vietnam. Once out, he studied business in college.  Stan found a job with the County assessor.  That summer he was assigned to Christmas Cove where he saw wealth he’d never imagined, measuring houses with expensive artwork and cupboards filled with fine porcelain.  Come winter, he was assigned to Dresden where he saw poverty that he’d also never imagined, entering frigid homes with milkcrates for doorsteps and plastic sheets for windows.  He never forgot it.  While it didn’t happen overnight, this is the reason he became a code enforcement officer. Stan has served on Nobleboro’s budget committee, recreation committee, and planning board as well as being a Selectman.  He’s been the health officer for Wiscasset and Bremen. Since 2008, he’s been the code enforcement officer for almost all the coastal towns of Lincoln County at one time or another.  He became Waldoboro’s in 2012.  Today, he works part-time for Nobleboro and full-time for Waldoboro, issuing in the last year over 240 permits.

 Later today I’ve got to go to a mobile home in Waldoboro that last year a woman in her 80s lived.  We’d gotten a phone call, and Karen Ann (the town navigator) went in, and the poor lady was laying on the floor.  So, they got her out and said, “Don’t go back in,” because it had animal feces on the floor, rotten food in the refrigerator, and no heat.  Two weeks later they tried moving her back, but there was still not heat, so now she’s in a home somewhere.  It was a rental. 

So, later today I’m checking that out and seeing what the situation is.  If it’s the way it was, I’ll condemn it.  Hopefully the owner is there and will let me in.  And hopefully, they’ve cleaned it.  But we’ll see.  That’s today.  I’m not dreading it, but I’m not looking forward to it either.  This kind of day is hard.

I’m strict about safety stuff.  You may be renting out a cottage in Back Cove or Dutch Neck, and it’s advertised as “2 bedrooms, sleeps nine.”  Well, your septic is not designed for nine people.  So, you’re going to have issues.  We want a septic inspection done even for short-term rentals. And we want signage, fire extinguishers, and things like that.

I try to use common sense.  Maybe you bought a business and changed the name of the business, so now you are changing the sign.  You might put up a new sign and think you didn’t need a permit because there was a sign before.  But you have to get a sign permit because it’s a different sign, and that’s $40.  But I’m not going to charge you $80 for not getting the permit.  I’m just going to charge you the $40.

But there’s other situations, like with somebody who has a garage; and you’ll ask about it.  And they’ll say, “Oh, there’s nobody in there.”  Well, come to find out their daughter is in there with their granddaughter.  A three-year old.  Hmmph.  So, now they’re out, and the mother says nobody’s there.  And then you find out that there is.  Well, the mother and child can’t stay in the garage, and if there’s no water or heat, they have to get out immediately.  I go to Karen-Ann to help them find a place.  Or as last resort, a hotel for a couple of days. 

But a typical day is when somebody comes in with a building permit.  Or, there’s a lot of phone calls asking questions. 

Not enough.  A lot of times people will hire a builder thinking the builder is going to get the permits.  Or the builder will say, “Oh, yeah, I’ve taken care of it,” and they haven’t. 

In winter, inspections slow down because there’s less building.  Right now, there’s people calling with things like, “I was looking at land in Waldoboro, can you tell me what I can or can’t do?  What’s my first steps?”

After you get your septic design permit and driveway permit, I tell you to come in with a building permit and plumbing permit.  If you’re here and I’m here, it could take just a half hour.  If you haven’t answered some of the questions, then it takes a little while longer.

Just because you call, doesn’t mean I’m going to show up at your doorstep thinking you’ve done something wrong.  Call for anything. 

“Is my property big enough to sell?”  That depends.

 “I’m remodeling my bathroom.  Do I need a permit?” No.  If you change the fixtures, the plumber needs a plumbing permit. 

A man just called today.  He’s got a bedroom.  He wants to turn it into two bedrooms.  Well, now you’re moving walls, so yes, you’re remodeling, and it’s in the ordinance that if you’re remodeling, you need a permit.  So, it was a $30 admin fee and it’s 20 cents a square foot, so it all ended up being $60 for the permit. 

Say you’re putting in or fixing a culvert.  Taking down a tree in the shore zone.  Putting in a septic.  We’re only a phone call away.