Roofing in Havre, Montana

Required

THE 2021 IRC AS AMENDED BY THE STATE, AND HAVRE TRACKS IT BY A FLOATING CLAUSE OF ITS OWN. City Code 4-1-1(A), BUILDING CODE ADOPTED (Ord. 852, 2006), reads: "The city adopts by public ordinance the current edition of the building code and all accompanying appendices, amendments and modifications as adopted by the building codes bureau, Montana department of labor and industry applicable to local government jurisdictions, subsequent editions of building codes may be adopted by administrative action as authorized by Montana Code Annotated section 50-60-301(1)(b)." City Code 4-1-17, EFFECTIVE DATES OF FUTURE ADOPTIONS, then makes that a rolling adoption: "Any codes or amendments adopted by the building codes bureau... shall become effective in the city upon order of the mayor within ninety (90) days after the date that the bureau notifies the city of said amendments." The state's current residential edition, per the Building Codes Bureau's own rule (ARM 24.301.154, last amended effective 9/21/2024), is the International Residential Code, 2021 Edition, together with Appendices Q, S and F, adopted with Chapters 11 through 43 deleted and the state's own amendments substituted, effective statewide June 11, 2022. So Havre names no edition of its own and does not need to; it takes whatever edition the Bureau currently publishes. THE APPLICABILITY CLAUSE THAT MAKES THIS REACH A HOUSE AT ALL. Montana's state building code does not, by itself, apply to "residential buildings containing less than five (5) dwelling units" unless "the local legislative body by ordinance or resolution makes the state building code applicable to these structures" (MCA 50-60-102(1)(a)). Havre has done exactly that. City Code 4-1-15, APPLICABILITY (Ord. 835, 1999), reads: "The technical codes and standards adopted by reference in this chapter are applicable to all buildings within the building code enforcement area of the city of Havre, Montana, including, without limitation, residential buildings containing less than five (5) dwelling units or their attached to structures, any farm or ranch building, and any private garage or private storage structure used only for the owner's own use as provided by section 50-6-102(1)(a), Montana Code Annotated." That text tracks MCA 50-60-102(1)(a)'s own exclusion list item by item. ⚠ The section as enacted cites "section 50-6-102(1)(a)"; the correct statutory citation is 50-60-102(1)(a) (Title 50, chapter 6 is Montana's emergency medical services chapter, not building codes). This record quotes the City's text as enacted and notes the evident scrivener's error rather than repairing it. TWO REPEALED SECTIONS THAT LOOK LIKE A RETREAT AND ARE NOT. City Code 4-1-2, HOUSING CODE ADOPTED, and 4-1-3, ONE AND TWO FAMILY DWELLING CODE ADOPTED, were both repealed by Ordinance 852 in 2006 -- the same ordinance that wrote the current floating 4-1-1(A). The repeal consolidated those separate adoptions into the single floating clause; it did not remove dwelling coverage, which 4-1-15 still carries. A separate section, 4-1-10, adopts the IECC "2003 edition" beside the floating building-code adoption; that is energy-code only and does not set the residential building code edition.