The Greene County Commission's Building Code Committee on Wednesday discussed, but took no action on, a proposed building code for adoption by the county.

"It's to protect people against shoddy work ... I think it will protect people," committee member Sam Riley said.

But Robbie Morgan, another committee member, said a majority of contractors, real estate agents, builders, carpenters, private citizens and others he had queried were opposed to adopting the building code for Greene County.

Greene County Attorney Roger Woolsey said, "The building code is a minimum requirement. It's established for safety reasons. It's not going to cost any more if you build according to code."

Clifford Williams of Afton Construction Company, attended the two-hour meeting. He was strongly in favor of a building code.

Williams said, "People are putting up houses (in Greene County) now that aren't structurally sound ... You've got people advertising in The Greeneville Sun who shouldn't be building." Williams said he was a state-licensed general contractor.

Woolsey said any code adopted now could be modified later, as legitimate concerns and objections come up. Ultimately, however, he said it was up to the elected officials present to decide if the county should adopt a building code.

Don Burchnell, a retired general contractor who said he worked in Florida for 40 years in areas that had a building code, also spoke in favor of a code for Greene County.

"The code is the beginning step for a process in Greene County,"

Burchnell said, "Greene County has only a few contractors, and a bunch of 'wannabe' builders who don't understand the code ..."

He added, "Licensing will be the primary way to control contractors."