City Appoints Judge To Hear Code Violation Cases

In just under an hour at its Tuesday meeting the City Council named Peachtree Corners first judge to oversee code enforcement cases, and the city's attorney swore in two additional code enforcement officers and a land development inspector.

"Its an important step for the city," said Mayor Mike Mason in announcing that one of the top items on the agenda was adding a judge to handle code enforcement cases.


A selection committee that included the city's attorney Bill Riley, recommended Charles Lewis Barrett, III as the judge to oversee code enforcement cases. His appointment was approved by the City Council Tuesday night.

"After advertising for the opening, we received a number of contenders, around 10 to 15," said Riley. "The committee boiled down the number to about five which were presented to the mayor and council."

Judge Barrett also is the Chief Judge and Court Administrator in Duluth's Municipal Court, the Chief Judge for Lilburn, Berkeley Lake and Sugar Hill. He has lived in Gwinnett County since 1984. 

Judge Barrett will hear his first cases on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 4 p.m. at City Hall. "We'll hold two sessions a month initially," said Barrett, "then resume monthly sessions after we clear out the backlog."

Two additional code enforcement officers were sworn in. Regionald Miller and Francisco Clark will join the city's current code enforcement officer, Walter Osorio, who was sworn in on January 29, 2013. The land development inspector is a part-time supervisor responsible for overseeing the code enforcement staff.

The city manager also presented a brief report on the agreement with Comcast to collect franchise fees. The agreement, yet to be finalized, will give the city the ability to collect Comcast franchise fees. The payments, which are now going to Gwinnett County, will be redirected to the city.

The agreement calls for quarterly payments which would be retroactive to July 1, 2012, when Peachtree Corners first became a city.

Roughly 10,000 customers are affected. However, customers will see no increase in their bills, just a line item that shows the 5 percent franchise fees going to the city rather than the county. The billing change to Comcast customers is expected to take place within the next two months.