Sutherlin Dollar General Reopens

Four Dollar General stores were shut down in late July for unsafe conditions. The Sutherlin Dollar General was approved to reopen on Wednesday. “It feels wonderful to be back, but I’m tired as heck,” Sutherlin Dollar General Assistant Manager Peggy Sutherland. The longer we are here, the busier we get. Everybody is excited to be back. We’ve been cleaning for about four or five days. That was the worst month of my life, not knowing and not getting a paycheck.” Sutherland said the other locations had more problems that needed correction than the Sutherlin location. They spent the cleaning days replacing expired goods like bread, milk and bananas. She said everyone is excited to be back - employees and customers. In early July, the four Douglas County Dollar Generals were reported to the State of Oregon Construction Contractors Board and the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration then to the Douglas County Building Department for having unsafe conditions including electrical work performed by a contractor not licensed in the state. “In the interest of public safety and by our statutory duty, we closed the four DG stores in Douglas County that had electrical work done without permits and proper licensing on July 19, 2022, after giving DG ample opportunity to correct the issues,” Clemens said in a press release. Clemens discovered none of the Dollar General locations applied for permits or submitted plans to the Building Department. The state officials verified the electrical contractor was brought in from Arkansas and did not have a license to work in Oregon, nor did the two helpers have any proper licensing. According to the state, the work was done over a weekend. “We immediately called the corporate offices for Dollar General,” Clemens said in a press release. “After issuing a warning to DG that we would have to close stores due to fire life safety concerns, we finally received contact information for the DG District Manager who gave them contact information for the DG Remodel Division. The DG Remodel Division then put us in touch with the Electrical Contractor who had performed the work (and) he would get licensed in the State of Oregon, and acquire proper permits and inspections. At that point we suggested that they hire a local electrician who was already licensed in the State of Oregon to take responsibility for the work, apply for the proper permits and correct any code violations that existed.” The Building Department contacted all four local Dollar General managers who reported electrical issues and unsafe practices by the contractor. The Building Department recommended again that Dollar General hire a local, licensed electrician to fix the problem and have it inspected or they would close the stores. “The Building Official has a statutory duty to make sure buildings are safe for people to enter, it is their first priority,” Douglas County Commissioner Chris Boice said in the press release. “I happen to know that this case was no different, as Bill made several attempts to contact Dollar General and help them obtain the proper permits for the work they were doing. However, Dollar General had unlicensed contractors from out of state do work that did not meet the required building and electrical codes.” Clemens has served the State of Oregon for 30 plus years as a Building Official in four jurisdictions. Revoking occupancy of a building is always a last resort. The Building Department is working with the other three Dollar General location. They have not issued any citations or fines to Dollar General or the contractor, according to the press release.