During a joint worksession Monday evening Wasco County Commissioners and The Dalles City Council agreed while they would prefer the state to handle building codes services, the state’s unwillingness to commit to a local office probably makes it preferable for the County to run it.  The state has been handling County building code services since Mid-Columbia Council of Governments ceased operations a number of months ago.  Members of both panels felt it’s the state’s obligation to take on the task, and that the state could find the workload too large to be handled at its Pendleton office or be pressured legislatively to provide a local office, but neither would be a sure thing.  MCCOG’s building codes program left behind four million dollars of reserves that could be used to establish a local office, but how much of that belongs to Wasco County is still unknown.  Mayor Steve Lawrence said the City would work with the County to do what it can to make a local building codes office work, adding a one-stop location for planning and building services can remain a goal.  County Commissioner Scott Hege noted his board has a lot of work to do before making a decision on taking on the program.