The Town of Tryon has appointed fire chief Joey Davis as the town’s building inspector, health officer, zoning administrator and code enforcement officer.

Davis will take on zoning administrator and code enforcer duties. He will also handle building inspections for the purposes of investigating abandoned motor vehicles and will serve as health inspector for purposes of enforcing the towns nuisance ordinance.

Tryon Town Council made the official appointment during a meeting last week.

Tryon Town Manager Justin Hembree, who has a degree in planning, will assist in zoning duties.

Davis was appointed zoning administrator following the resignation of Melanie Sand, who formerly served as planner for both Tryon and Columbus.

The towns of Tryon and Columbus formerly shared the planning position, with Sand working two days per week in Tryon and three days per week in Columbus. Both towns have decided to transfer those duties to other town employees in an effort to save money. Columbus directed those duties to town manager Jonathan Kanipe.

Davis already does fire inspections in Tryon and Hembree says the transition to other duties has worked out well so far.

Most importantly, were able to provide a good level of service, Hembree told council last week.

Hembree and Davis said by moving the services more in house the town is able to respond to issues more quickly because&bsp; staff is available Monday through Friday on a full-time basis.