ALTON - Terry Buhs announced Wednesday during the Alton City Council meeting he is resigning his position as Director of Code Enforcement and the Building and Zoning Department for the City of Alton. Buhs also spent 30 years in the Alton Police Department before retiring in 2019. Buhs has made a positive difference in the Alton region with his years of public service in law enforcement and now code enforcement.
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Buhs is recognized for implementing strong standards and code enforcement since occupying his role as director of code enforcement and said “his heart is always in the City of Alton,” where he has been for such a long period of time.
“I hope people can see the difference,” Buhs said. “I have been told by numerous people they can tell a difference happening with our work. The code enforcement project we started will take two to three years to get any major results. I think Vince Warlick, the Building and Zoning police officer, will do a great job replacing me. I worked hand in hand with Vince over the last year to set our system up and think he will continue our positive work.”
Buhs describes Alton “as a beautiful city and a great place to live and visit."
“We have even greater potential for improvement and I think Alton can easily be a destination place for many people to come and visit and enjoy,” Buhs said. “I also enjoyed my 30 years with the Alton Police Department. I worked with a lot of great officers and met a lot of great citizens of Alton during my time as police officer. I really appreciated all those years.”
Buhs continued and said some property owners didn’t want to live up to the code standards put in place the past year and have sold their properties and are now out of the business.
“We had four criminal complaints against landlords in the past several months,” he said. “I think we have to hold the property owners responsible for their properties and they have to create a safe environment for tenants as well as keep their property up to code. This will allow homeowners to retain their property value for their residences.”
The retiring code enforcement director said he looks forward to new opportunties as he enters official retirement from government work. He also said entering the retirement phase, he loves the time he spent serving the City of Alton and will always reflect on the positive memories.Chris Rhodes also contributed to this story.
