County Officials Can’t Regulate Construction Codes
EL PASO, TX. – County officials say they have no power to regulate, or enforce any building or construction codes within the county limits.
The county’s inability to provide oversight is now turning heads after a man was crushed while the porch he was helping build fell on him in Montana Vista.
The freak accident happened in County Commissioner Miguel Teran’s district , “We can’t even give recommendations, we don’t even find out that people are going to build, they don’t even let us know”, said Teran about officials having their hands tied.
El Paso County is one of 20 counties in the state of Texas that does not allow any legislative authority for county officials to oversee building and zoning issues.
Teran says they’ve been trying to get the state to give them the authority to enforce building and zoning codes for the past 12 years.
He says everytime they make a plea to the state for that power, it gets pushed aside.
