Wareham has hired a temporary building commissioner to handle a backlog in zoning permits, and other zoning issues that have cropped up since the departure of former Director of Inspectional Services Myles Burke.

David Moore has been licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety as a building commissioner since 1992.

Interim Town Administrator Derek Sullivan stressed that Moore is a vendor, not a full-time town employee.

"The person we've hired is coming in on an as-needed basis to take care of the backlog," Sullivan said during Tuesday's Board of Selectmen meeting.

Sullivan said the full-time position will be posted and the town hopes to hire within eight weeks, though that time frame is not set in stone.

The position of Director of Inspectional Services position has been vacant since Burke was terminated in August. Burke was hired in April, 2010, and given eighteen months to obtain state certification as a building commissioner, but failed to do so.

The state Building Official Certification Committee maintained that Burke lacked the required five years of experience in the supervision of building construction or design, and thus did not meet the minimum qualifications necessary to take the certification exam. Burke twice appealed the state's decision, unsuccessfully.

While the hiring announcement was supposed to be made during the Sullivan's weekly report during the Board of Selectmen's meeting, Sullivan announced it during the citizen's participation portion of the meeting, in response to a complaint by Onset resident Glenn Morrison.

Morrison went before the board to address the issue of two, 40-foot storage units that have been placed on a 13th Street residential property in Onset.

Morrison alleges: "This fella's running a business out of there."

Morrison complained that town officials have not addressed the problem.

"If the police chief or the fire chief leave, do we not send the trucks out? Because the boss left," Morrison told the Selectmen.

Sullivan stressed that the town now has someone who can handle the issue.

Selectmen Chair Steve Holmes noted that the backlog occurred because "we didn't want anyone signing off on [permits] who wasn't certified and qualified."