Colin Winchester was appointed Summit County’s new law administrative judge last week by the county council, making him the second administrative judge for the county in three years.
The county’s law administrative judge presides over zoning and code enforcement appeal hearings. In April, the council members were encouraged by the Utah Property Rights Ombudsman to rely more on judicial experts, such as administrative judges, instead of making judicial and executive decisions themselves.
Summit County Code Enforcement Officer Leslie Rushton said that generally, people comply with the county codes and cases don’t reach the administrative judge level, including water ordinances and animal control violations.
“People don’t seem to appeal our fines or citations very often, usually they just comply,” said Rushton. “When it comes to animal control issues, probably two out of every 10 citations appeal, for other code violations, maybe one out of 20 appeals.”
According to Summit County Manager Bob Jasper, the administrative judge helps determine if a citation is fair based on the county code.
“If someone gets a citation for having too many abandoned cars in their yard, but they have them to temporarily get some spare parts from them, the administrative judge can rule on the proper course of action,” Jasper said.
The county’s first administrative judge, Mark Farren, was terminated, but Jasper declined to explain further saying it was a personnel issue