Court Opinion

ID: 9750988
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:54:13.646625+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:30.563553
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION BY
Judge SIMPSON.
I must dissent. For the following reasons, I would reverse the decision of my respected colleague on the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County (common pleas) and remand for a decision on the merits of the appeal.
The thoughtful majority opinion accurately sets forth the procedural history of this controversy. Briefly, it involves an appeal to common pleas by Middletown Township (Township) from the Delaware County Uniform Construction Code Board of Appeals (County Board). Common pleas determined the County Board was not properly authorized by the Township to entertain its Uniform Construction Code Act (UCC Act)1 appeals, and it quashed the appeal before reaching the merits.
Thus, the issue currently before us is whether the Township properly designated the County Board to hear UCC Act appeals originating in the Township. In this regard, common pleas made two points. First, the Township needed to create its own appeals board because it elected to administer the UCC Act itself. Second, the Township’s delegation of its appeal board function to the County Board was improper because it was done by resolution rather than by ordinance, as required by the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act, 53 Pa.C.S. § 2305.
Common pleas did not discuss the language of the ordinance by which the Township complied with its responsibilities under the UCC Act. Ordinance No. 263 (Ordinance) was adopted by the Township on May 24, 2004. Reproduced Record (R.R.) 262a-67a. As required by the UCC Act, the Ordinance adopted the appropriate construction codes. Significantly, in Section V, the Ordinance provided for various forms of administration and enforcement “as determined by the [Township] from time to time by resolution .... ” R.R. at 265a (emphasis added). Further, in Section VI, the Ordinance provided: “A Board of Appeals shall be established by *1203resolution .... ” R.R. at 266a (emphasis added).
Consistent with the Ordinance, the Township thereafter enacted Resolution 2004-97 approving the use of the County Board as the body performing the appeal functions, and approving the execution of any agreement as may be required to authorize the County Board to act. R.R. at 278a. Shortly thereafter, a standardized written agreement between the Township and the County was executed. The written agreement provides that the “Municipality selects” the County Board as its appeals board, and the County “approves the Municipality’s selection.” R.R. 280a-81a.
Because the Ordinance specifically authorized further actions related to the UCC Act to be undertaken by resolution, I discern no fatal error in the form by which the Township acted.2
Importantly, these actions are consistent with my reading of the relevant provisions of the UCC Act. In this regard, it is useful to examine the structure of Section 501 of the UCC Act, 35 P.S. § 7210.501, entitled “Administration and enforcement.” Subsection (b) addresses “Municipal administration and enforcement.” A separate provision, subsection (c), addresses “Board of appeals.” The separate statutory treatment of these activities makes sense because they function differently. Municipal administration and enforcement is an ongoing, almost daily function. Appeals from administrative decisions, however, would be sporadic, and a board of appeals would not be needed on an ongoing, daily basis.
In short, because there are separate statutory provisions for each, and because they function differently, I do not equate administration/enforcement with appeals. They need not be undertaken in a parallel manner. Thus, I respectfully disagree with common pleas that because the Township elected to perform its own administration/enforcement, it was therefore required to create its own appeals board.
For further support, I look to the “Board of appeals” language of Section 501(c)(1) of the UCC Act, 35 P.S. § 7210.501(c)(1), which states in pertinent part (with emphasis added):
A municipality which has adopted an ordinance for the administration and enforcement of this act or municipalities which are parties to an agreement for the joint administration and enforcement of this act shall establish a board of appeals as provided by Chapter 1 of the 1999 BOCA National Building Code, Fourteenth Edition, to hear appeals from decisions of the code administrator. Members of the municipality’s governing body may not serve as members of the board of appeals.
Clearly, this provision does not require a municipality which has adopted an ordinance for the administration and enforcement of the UCC Act, like Township, to create its own new appeals board; rather, the plain language simply requires that there must be a board to hear appeals. The locus of the board, the form of its selection, and the timing of its creation are matters not constrained by the “Board of appeals” provisions of the UCC Act.
Nor does the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act, 53 Pa.C.S. § 2305, compel a different result. That Section provides in pertinent part: “A local government may enter into intergovernmental cooperation with or delegate any functions, powers or responsibilities to another governmental *1204unit or local government upon passage of an ordinance.” However, the appeals board function is not a function of the Township or of the County; instead, it is a function of an independent body. Indeed, members of a municipality’s governing body “may not serve as members of the board of appeals.” Section 501(c)(1) of the UCC Act, 35 P.S. § 7210.501(c)(1). Therefore, the Township is not delegating its own function, and the general Intergovernmental Cooperation Act does not conflict with the plain “Board of appeals” provisions of the more specific, recently-enacted UCC Act.3
Sometimes we make things more complicated than they need to be. Here, the Township enacted the Ordinance, which provided for administration/enforcement of the UCC Act and provided for an appeals board. The Ordinance authorized selection of an appeals board by resolution. The relevant provisions of the UCC Act do not require something different. Therefore, I find no fault in the Township’s actions, and I conclude that it properly selected the County Board to perform the UCC Act appeals board function. I would reverse common pleas’ contrary conclusions and remand for a decision on the merits.
Judge LEADBETTER and Judge COHN JUBELIRER join in this dissent.

. Act of November 10, 1999, P.L. 491, as amended, 35 P.S. § 7210.101-7210.1103.

. Moreover, the ordinance establishing the County Board recites that it was established by resolutions of the various government units in the County. Reproduced Record at 269a.

. As discussed above, a distinction must be drawn between administration/enforcement and appeals under the UCC Act. By express provision, a municipality needs to comply with the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act for joint administration and enforcement. Section 501(b)(3) of the UCC Act, 35 P.S. § 7210.501(b)(3). But there is no corresponding express requirement for compliance with the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act in the separate "Board of appeals” provisions.