Commissioners hire Steve Risser again as building department director

The old is the new again at the Richland County Building Department. County Commissioners voted unanimously on Thursday to appoint Steve Risser, who formerly was the department director, to take over the position again as of Jan. 18.

Risser replaces Kara Russell, who resigned Nov. 21 for personal reasons.

Risser spent 13½ years with the county building department before leaving in March of 2016 to become the chief building official and deputy city engineer with the City of Mansfield, where he coordinated permitting and construction activities between zoning, site development, city utility, storm water management and flood plain as well as health and engineering responsibilities.

He currently is Chief Building Official for the Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Industrial Compliance where he works with state agencies to develop and implement best practices to facilitate navigation of building code processes.

“I wasn’t necessarily looking for a job opportunity. Working for the state has been a marvelous opportunity. That’s at the top of the career level in this industry,” Risser said. He explained that the board approached him after the most recent changes in the building department. “We had some conversations and it’s an opportunity to be closer to home and be closer to my family. I’ve got kids that are getting older and sports schedules that are getting more hectic.”

Risser also is active in the community with the Lexington Kiwanis Club, Boy Scout Troop 131, has the distinction of being an Eagle Scout, and is a member of Masonic Lodge 35.

Risser has a civil engineering degree from the Ohio State University and is a licensed professional engineer, certified building inspector, Master Plans Examiner and is a Certified Residential Building official with the State of Ohio. One of his early goals will be to make sure people are aware about significant changes to the state building code that are effective March 1.

He also said he wants to continue a past practice of urging people involved with projects to bring their concerns to the department before they become an issue, whether it involves inspection or development. “The thing I always told the architects and engineers was, ‘Put us on your design team so if you’ve got questions, you know there’s going to be an issue, let’s figure this out in an early stage so you’re not six months into developing a set of plans and you’ve got a construction schedule set,” he said. “Preliminary review is what the state calls it.”

In his previous time with the county, Risser was sanitary and storm water engineer and floodplain administrator for the county in addition to being Building Department director. Those responsibilities have generally been moved to the wastewater department and the county soil and water conservation district.

County Administrator Andrew Keller said rehiring Risser was a “no brainer” adding, “We always love any opportunity as the board of commissioners to bring talent back to Richland County. It’s that wealth of experience that Steve has that will serve him well in this position.”

“You’re rejoining Richland County at a time of explosive growth and I’m looking forward to all you’re going to bring to the table to the ‘Build Richland” initiative, which involves many different organizations to help facilitate that growth,” board chairman Cliff Mears told Risser.

In other business on Thursday, Commissioners approved a revised drug and alcohol policy and adopted a new policy on marijuana use. Human resources director Kelley Christiansen said the changes were part of a general county policy update that was to have been rolled out all at the same time but were needed when the use of recreational marijuana became legal in Ohio Dec. 7.

“Since the law went into effect, we felt it was appropriate to go ahead and update the drug and alcohol policy to reflect this change in the law and then also to add a section specifically for use,” Christiansen said. “We did have questions from different departments about how this new law impacts our policy or how we deal with this issue in the workplace.”

Keller said one of the changes prohibits the use of marijuana on county property. “Richland County has a drug free work culture and we tend to maintain a drug free culture on Richland County property,” he explained, noting that the other change specifically lists marijuana in the county drug and alcohol policy. “It’s a zero tolerance policy for being under the influence of drugs or alcohol at work.”

Commissioners also reviewed non-general fund spending plans for 18 departments or operations. The board had no concerns with any except for the Dog Warden’s office, which is expected to have a negative balance at the end of this year and 2024, Commissioner Tony Vero said the problem is that dog shelter has had increased expenses with 121 dogs currently housed compared to an average of 30 per day during COVID and 60 to 70 per day last year. The board approved a recommendation by Vero and appropriated $60,000 from this year’s general fund budget surplus to make sure the operation is in the black through 2024.

“I get the feeling they’re always on pins and needles with nickels and dimes and trying to manage but we have an amazing staff out there,” Mears said.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Commissioners hire Risser as head of county building department