“Gilbert Sticks a Branding Iron in our Eye”

Enter the name Rusdon Ray in the Gilbert Watch search box, and you will see about 10 articles devoted to why the Gilbert Town Council should NOT pass 1,000 new "code updates" on the construction industry, and on Gilbert families.   You will see evidence of the herculean efforts made by Rusdon, industry professionals, tradesmen, and private citizens on why these codes are mostly irrelevant to life/safety issues.   Rusdon and his team are unpaid volunteers fighting for individual liberty and the free market. 

Gilbert’s Town Management is urging the Council to pass the latest ICC (International Code Council) codes into law.   For the last 10 years, towns and cities are passing these types of codes into law in lockstep all across America.   

It is the proliferation of government regulations on steroids, at the local level.    

Here is my question to each Gilbert Town Council member:

Who do you believe has the burden of proof for a proposed law?  Is it the citizens of Gilbert who should prove to you why each code should not be made into law?  Or is it the compensated employees of the Town who should provide written justification to you for each code as to why it should be made into law?

So far, the Gilbert Council has not voted to make these codes into law.  

In response to the efforts of Rusdon and his team, on June 17, 2013, Larry Taylor, Gilbert’s Plan Review & Inspection Manager, sent the following email to the Council and other interested parties.  Basically, they relaxed a few of the 1,000 code updates, and added some more.

Subject: Proposed amendments

Good afternoon,

I have attached a summary of the 2012 code amendments that we are proposing to add based on feedback from the various public meetings that were held. The summary has a link to our draft document that contains all of the proposed amendments, both current and new. Please provide any feedback by July 8th in order to give us time to wrap up any last minute changes and prepare to go to Council.

Thank you for your participation in our code adoption process. Feel free to forward this on to any other interested parties.

Larry Taylor
Plan Review & Inspection Manager
Town of Gilbert
90 E Civic Center Dr
Gilbert, AZ 85296
480-503-6958

As Rusdon Ray stated recently, "Gilbert sticks a branding iron in our eye." Here are portions of Rusdon Ray’s response:

 

"…..as these proposed amendments demonstrate, Town Management did not fulfill Town Council’s request to listen and work with the public and interested parties in putting together a life-safety set of codes only.  On the contrary, Town management used the meetings to simply present and inform the publi of the new laws, mandates, and restrictions.

"…..if Town Management is successful in convincing Town Council that we need these International codes, it will undoubtedly be the single most expansive growth of government regulation in the past 20 years and possibly since the founding of Gilbert as a Town in 1920!

"…..These new laws include such things as permits for all flag poles over 20′, permits for all walls over 5′ tall within your property lines, permits for simple window replacements, permits for water heater installation and replacement, permits for A/C unit installation and replacement, not to mention new restrictions such as the outlawing of commercial cooking appliances in any new or remodeled residence, 75% high efficiency lighting requirement, new and expensive and very illogical heating and cooling systems along with mandatory tests on the efficiency of the entire structure etc, etc.

"Some of these may sound all well and fine but not when enforced at the barrel of a gun. That is exactly what it is. If you fail to comply with any of the thousands of pages of new and existing ICC codes, you stand in jeopardy of being refused the right to live in your home. If you fail to pay the fines etc. you will be escorted by police to jail, plain and simple. 

"While Town Management has been studying to undermine the liberty of the people of Gilbert under the guise of safety and efficiency (judging not by their words only, but also by their actions), we, on the other hand, have been putting together our proposal to restore liberty to the people by putting together a simple, & locally written, set of life-safety codes to replace the cumbersome and very lengthy and restrictive International ICC codes. Our proposal is titled "Gilbert Can Govern Itself". We believe our rights come from God and not from government, while those in Town Management would have us believe all rights come from them. Their attached proposal is a perfect example. Through the ICC Codes, they take it upon themselves to regulate every aspect of the Construction & Building Industry of both commercial and residential, which includes all our homes and businesses, and then they expect us to bow down and thank them when they propose to give us back the right to choose if we want a soft water system or a dedicated outlet in our garage or whether or not we want to put a lock on our A/C line to prevent "huffing". They have made themselves, through the code, as the giver of all rights in that entire industry and area of our lives.

"We ask that Town Council reject the International 2012 ICC Codes and rather vote to replace the existing ICC codes with a new set of Gilbert life-safety codes. This may sound like a huge and overwhelming job for Town Council and Town Management, but if they would have spent even half the time they already spent in trying to sell the 2012 codes to the public, we would already have our own Gilbert codes written. We as citizens and business owners in Gilbert have already started a draft for Management to review and consider as an example. We ask for the help and expertise of those in Town Management and Town Council, but more importantly, from those within the trades, and the citizens upon whom they will be enforced."

Email Town Council at CouncilMembers@gilbertaz.com and ask them to Reject the 2012 ICC Codes and Support "Gilbert Can Govern Itself."

Visit our website www.NoNewCodes.com