The city of Meridian’s new code enforcement manager Wiley Quinn sees a city on the cusp of a brighter future.

    Quinn started his job as the Meridian’s code enforcement manager on Monday. He comes to Meridian after serving six years as the code enforcement manager for the city of Hattiesburg. Before that, Quinn was a Walthall County supervisor for seven years.

    Quinn said he was eager to get started on improving Meridian’s infrastructure.

    “I see a city on the verge of growing quite a bit,” Quinn said. “You have a hotel that is about finished and about to get its Certificate of Occupancy (CO) and another, Sleep Inn, that’s almost ready. That’s a good sign, because people see actual growth.”

    The hotel that Quinn said will be getting its CO, is the new Fairfield Inn and Suites on Highway 11/80. The hotel is scheduled to open by the end of March.

    Quinn said his office will continue to work with Interim Director of Community Development Bunky Partridge.

    “We’re still working on the process that we will employ,” Quinn said. “The main thing we will do is enforce the city of Meridian’s ordinances and if that means we will have to condemn buildings, then that’s what we’ll do. Vacant buildings that are just left there don’t feel good for a community.”

    Quinn, though, was quick to maintain that city of Meridian will work with property owners. Like Partridge said in a Meridian Star story last week, the city of Meridian will help owners get their buildings up to code.

    “With the property owners, you have to develop a dialogue so that owner will take responsibility for their own property,” Quinn said. “If it has to be demolished, we want them to demolish it themselves. If it can be repaired, will they repair it? We’re not all about closing vacant buildings. We know buildings can be saved.”

    Quinn elaborated further about the need to renovate property.

    “If you were to tear down 1,000 properties, what you are left with is 1,000 vacant lots and that’s not good either,” Quinn said. “The city then has to absorb all those costs.”

    Quinn said he will enforce laws based on the 1972 state statues but also hopes the city of Meridian will adopt the International Maintained Property Code for 2012.

    “Our approach with the codes will be, ‘What avenues can we do to make it better?'” Quinn said. “The first thing will be to secure the property. The second is to have any emergency repairs  be made. Third, clean it. The last resort for us will be to demolish it. That has to be the last resort.”

    Meridian Ward 5 City Councilman Randy Hammon said in January that the city has more than 3,000 abandoned properties, so there is a lot of work to do.

    “Cites that practice proactive policies have reduced their fire, crime and other bad entities by 34 percent,” Hammon said about a national study on the importance of infrastructure improvements. “This is huge. That’s why we have a practical plan to clean up the city.”

    Partridge said because of Quinn’s experience with a city the size of Hattiesburg at 49,000 residents, he was a good match.

    “He is the best fit for our organization,” Partridge said. “He has a lot of experience since he was the city of Hattiesburg’s code enforcement manager. He brings in a lot of knowledge about code enforcement.”

    Quinn knows the task will be difficult.

    “I know there are a lot of issues to be addressed,” Quinn said. “And I’m part of the process in how they (city of Meridian) will address those issues.”

    Quinn said while he was in Hattiesburg, a big focus of the department was improving rental properties in the corridor between Highway 49 and Interstate 59.