Agenda - Council - 07/09/2024 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Community Development Director Hanson explained that this is something relatively new but is currently being done by a lot of building departments. She noted that more complicated inspections would require a site visit. She said they would start doing these virtual inspections if they would free up a lot of time for the building inspectors. Councilmember Woestehoff asked what other cities timelines are for their building departments. He asked if it is common for other cities to be two weeks out for building permits and a couple of days for inspections. He asked how Ramsey compares to these other cities. Community Development Director Hanson said two-week reviews are typical. City Administrator Hagen said it is a little longer of a timeline for commercial projects. Councilmember Woestehoff said this plan makes sense; however, he asked if they are still anticipating using Rum River Consulting to keep the timelines tighter. City Administrator Hagen explained that they hope that they do not have to keep utilizing Rum River Consulting. He shared he has discussed with other similar sized cities, and they are able to keep up on their own so he anticipates they will be able to as well. He added that at this time last year they were six weeks behind on plan reviews, and at this point they are working with a two- to-three-week window. Community Development Director Hanson added that it is common for cities to supplement with contract inspectors during the busy season to keep up with inspections. The consensus of the Council was to move forward with the timeline suggested by Staff and to promote Thomas Knight to the Assistant Building Official position. 2.02: Review Community Survey City Administrator Hagen reviewed the Staff report concerning the Community Survey. Councilmember Musgrove said she was surprised to see this item on the agenda as she was under the impression that they were not doing anything else with this. She stated it would be good to know how many surveys this accounts for. City Administrator Hagen stated this provides the opinions of a sample of 471 residents. He added that Polco anticipated a margin for error of 5%. He noted there was a 16%response rate, which is similar to past years. Councilmember Musgrove asked if this includes anything from the open survey online. City Administrator Hagen noted that the online open survey is an attachment of this; however, it is not incorporated into the report. City Council Work Session/June 25, 2024 Page 2 of 8