Cochran to be assigned new building inspector following complaints

Following months of complaints from Cochran builders, the city will be assigned a new inspector, a representative announced.

Brett Hanes, who serves as the Director of Development Services at Falcon Design, made the announcement during a work session on Thursday.

“We will have a new inspector here assigned to the city,” Hanes said. 

According to Hanes, Falcon Design has received multiple complaints about inspections done in Cochran in recent weeks. Due to this, he says, he has personally taken over inspections on the properties where complaints were made. 

“We have heard those [complaints], and we are making changes,” he said. “Those changes are going to be made as soon as possible, but as far as the properties where those complaints have arisen, I have personally taken over inspections for all of those.”

Falcon Design, a civil-engineering firm contracted by the city for building inspections, has been a hot topic at council meetings in recent months.

In October, builders called on the city to sever ties with its sole inspector in Cochran, Anne Cleveland, citing concerns with her “impossible” inspection standards and overall communication style.

“She [Cleveland] delays comments back to us. She won’t send an email,” one builder told the council last month. “I can go to Hawkinsville, and in those areas, I can get a permit in one day. One. Day. It was 21 days before I heard anything back from Ms. Anne.”

Another builder told the council to “get out of bed” with the company, warning them that contractors were overcharging for and pulling out of projects in the city altogether, to avoid working with Cleveland.

“Once the word gets around, you’re not going to be able to find anybody to come to Cochran, Georgia, to build anything,” he said.

On Thursday, when Hanes announced the city would be assigned a new inspector, he didn’t give a set date when they might begin work or whether or not Cleveland would continue working on projects in the city. 

When the TJP previously spoke with Hanes, he indicated that Cleveland would not be removed from the project, and denied rumors of her exit from the city, calling them “not factually accurate.”

Following the announcement, Hanes spoke with the city council during executive session.