Jason Craig, Building Official: Hero or Villain?

Discuss the fence ordinance in Royal Oak, and the conversation will inevitably turn to "that building official" or to "Jason Craig" from those who know his name. He's the city official who comes across as a "hard-nosed bastard of an inspector" or as "the city's scapegoat for this money grab." About the only praise directed toward Jason is that he is simply doing his job with his apparent inflexibility. That praise is countered by those who say he is not so much brave as incompetent.

Craig didn't help himself at the last CITCOM meeting when he stonewalled questions from the commissioners with answers like, "I'm not qualified to do that" when a more flexible enforcement technique was proposed. He would not even make a judgment on suggestions that solutions like a parabolic mirror or an audible alarm might make it unnecessary to demolish 10 feet of driveway fences which come to the sidewalk.

Worse, residents speaking during Public Comment complained of arbitrary and unrealistic enforcement, such as mandating impossible-to-meet deadlines for demolition and replacement.

Officials in such positions are criticized for not exercising judgment and for "blindly"  enforcing the letter of the law. Yet, if they make an exception, they will immediately be charged with favoritism or corruption.

Residents aren't buying the public safety concerns or the legalistic reasoning for not grandfathering decades-old fences where no problem has ever occurred. What residents are seeing is just another money-grab by an increasingly greedy local government. Dog owners have already labeled the new Dog Census the same way.

About fences, whatever his competence or personal preference, Jason Craig is the fall-guy.

Frank Versagi is the editor of Versagi Voice.