Hamilton County is dedicating a full-time Sheriff's deputy to catching semis and others breaking commercial vehicle laws.
The Sheriff and county engineer have been working together on this issue but now Engineer Ted Hubbard says the departments are formalizing the arrangement.
"We have to be able to make sure that the vehicles that travel over the roadway system are the proper weight and the proper size," says Hubbard. "If they're not it can cause undue damage to the infrastructure system."
The Sheriff is providing a full-time deputy focused on enforcing commercial vehicle laws. The Engineer will cover the deputy's salary and provide a vehicle and weighing scales.
"I think the word will get out that we're going to have a pretty effective system here and we won't have the oversized load issues that we probably would have," says Hubbard.
Hubbard reports the County Engineer’s Office received $227,083 in revenue from fines in 2012. That's all fines not just commercial vehicle violations.
Major Mike Horton says the dedicated Sheriff's deputy position is being filled by a deputy already on staff, and is not a new hire. He expects the deputy will patrol all roadways and interstates in the county but with a focus on county-maintained routes.
