Agenda - Council - 07/09/2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CC Regular Session 7. 3. Meeting Date: 07/09/2013 By: Tim Gladhill, Community Development Information Title: Receive Building Permit Levels for 2013 Year to Date and Discuss Long Term Building Inspection and Plan Review Staff Needs Background: Beginning in 2012, Building Permit levels have begun to steadily increase when compared to the years 2007 to 2011. Based on current trends, it appears that revenue and permit levels used for the 2013 Budget and Strategic Plan will exceed original forecasts. Through July 2, 2013, the City had approved ninety-eight (98) new homes and one (1) new instiutional use (Northgate Church). In total, the City has issued 941 permits through July 2, 2013. Additionally, there are currently nine (9) new homes under review, approximately twenty (20) units additional to issue for Seasons of Ramsey (fifty [50] unit townhome development), and a approximately fifteen (15) other miscellaneous permits of various scales. In addition, there are several carry-over projects from 2012, including the Residence at The COR (230 unit apartment). Furthermore, Staff anticipates issuing several other larger projects by the end of the year including, but not limited to, McDonalds, Stoney River, Cullinan Rigging, and Diamond Graphics. Staff sees this as a necessary time to discuss matching adequate service levels with customer expectations. Between 2007 and 2011, when permit levels were trending downwards, the City had reduced staffing levels in the Building Division to better match service level demands. In addition, during a portion of this timeframe, the City relied exclusively on contracted services to provide building official (required by building code), building inspections, and plan review services. On May 28,2013, the City Council authorized Staff to recruit for a Regular, Full -Time Building Official, rather than continuing to contract for this service. Staff is in the process of completing that recruitment and has first interviews scheduled for July 9, 2013 and second interviews scheduled for July 11, 2013. On June 22, 2013, the contract employee from Inspectron, Inc. that was serving as the Building Official for the City resigned from Inspectron, Inc. to accept a position with another community in Minnesota. At that time, this employee was providing fourty (40) hours per week of service to Ramsey. In addition, Inspectron was providing an additional twenty-four (24) hours between two (2) other Inspectron employees for a total of sixty-four (64) hours of service. Staff had requested and additional eight (8) hours of service from Inspectron in order to better meet acceptable metrics and service to our customers. This would have resulted in a total of seventy-two (72) hours per week of service. Based on current availablity of Inspectron employees, Inspectron is currently only able to provide forty (40) hours of service to the City, resulting in a gap of service. It is noted that Staff believes Inspectron, Inc. has provided excellent customer service for Ramsey, and Staff would desire to continue this partnership and establishing an appropriate balance. It is further assumed that Inspectron's recruitment will be dependent on completion of the City's recruitment for a Building Official. In other words, Inspectron had been providing forty (40) hours of service to Ramsey for Building Official services that will eventually be brought in house for Ramsey. The established acceptable metrics for the Building Division service levels are ten (10) business days for standard residential plan review, thirty (30) business days for new commercial and industrial plan review, and twenty-four (24) to forty-eight (48) hour 'inspection window'. Based on the current staffing, the Inspection Window is currently fourty-eight (48) to seventy-two (72) hours at minimum and at times ninety-six (96) hours. Staff has fielded a number of concerns on behalf of our customers. The amount of time available with these metrics is spent exclusive on inspections, which does not leave time for plan review for the projects referenced above. In order to address the service level gap as an interim solution, Staff has arranged an agreement for the City