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