By Naomi Hatch An intergovernmental agreement between the Town of Snowflake and Navajo County under which the county will enforce installation standards for manufactured homes in the town was approved by the town council last week. The county has an agreement with the Arizona Department of Fire, Building and Life Safety Office of Manufactured Housing for such enforcement. Snowflake Planning and Zoning Administrator Dale Call explained that in 2007, the town’s building department was contacted by the Office of Manufactured Housing (OMH) regarding the installation of factory built buildings and manufactured homes, which advised the town that the OMH was the statutory authority pertaining to the installation of manufactured homes, and if the town continued to inspect these homes, it would require an intergovernmental agreement. The mayor signed an agreement with OMH that regulated the permitting and installation inspections of factory built buildings and manufactured homes, and gave authority to the Snowflake Building Department on April 22, 2008, to issue permits and conduct installation inspections. Call attended state sponsored training annually until 2015. In September 2010, the Snowflake Building Department was contacted again by OMH, which said the agreement had been misplaced and could not be found. At that time, OMH officials asked the Snowflake Building Department to sign the intergovernmental agreement for inspections of manufactured homes, so on Nov. 9, 2010, the town entered a new five-year agreement with OMH ending Nov. 29, 2015. On May 13, 2015, an email was received by the town stating, “All IGA partners are required to attend training annually.” Call elected not to attend the 2015 training, explaining to the council that it was requiring too many stipulations. On Aug. 21, 2015, an email was received from OMH advising the town that the agreement was set to expire on Nov. 29, 2015, and stating, “Please advise via email if the Town of Snowflake plans to continue its partnership.” On Aug. 26, 2015, Call responded with an email stating, “I am considering not renewing the IGA for manufactured permits.” On Sept. 22, 2015, Call received an email containing an OMH audit for the town’s manufactured home inspection procedures, which stated, “Response and remedy is required to maintain the agreement with this department.” Because Call had no intention of maintaining the agreement with OMH, he sent no response. On Jan. 13, 2016, Call received an email from OMH that stated, “I never received a response to the audit conducted on Sept. 3, 2015, before the expiration of the contract.” Call responded, stating, “I’m not in a position to continue our IGA at this time,” and referring the OMH employee to the previous email. “I admit I made a mistake; I didn’t think it was important enough to bring to the council,” Call explained. “I thought the state would do it before I took it on.” He noted that the state found that Navajo County is willing to pick up the agreement and do the inspections, but must amend its agreement to do the inspections within the town. “I see this will be budget neutral with the community,” said Call, noting that over the years he had done six inspections on private property and six inspections in mobile home parks, which gave the town revenue of $2,400 over the past eight to 10 years. David Whittaker of Navajo County is ready to do the inspections, said Call, who will meet with Whittaker to work out the details. “The town always had in place a procedure for zoning clearance,” said Call. “Those will stay in place.” Call asked that the town lower the charge for the permit from $200 to $100, because Navajo County will raise its permit fee from the $200 that the town charged to $300. The requested change would translate to no increase in the fee. “The reason is time and effort put in by staff is greatly reduced,” because the town will only be required to do a quick site review visit. “The staff does not feel there is sufficient quantity of permits requested within the town limits to justify the cost of equipment, travel and training required by the OMH to pursue continuation of the IGA,” said Call. The town will retain the right to issue building permits or zoning permits prior to the placement of factory built buildings and manufactured homes within the incorporated town limits. Mayor Tom Poscharsky said he spoke with the manager of Clayton Homes, a local company, who said this would be acceptable with him. A motion to approve the agreement between the Arizona Department of Fire, Building, and Life Safety Office of manufactured housing and Navajo County to enforce installation standards passed unanimously. Call also sought approval of Resolution No. 2016-04, adopting the fee schedule for zoning clearance for placement of factory built buildings and manufactured homes from $200 to $100. A motion to table this item so council members could look into it more passed unanimously.