MEMORANDUM

TO:                  Mike Wildgen, City Manager  

THRU:             Debbie Van Saun, Assistant City Manager

FROM:            Victor Torres, Neighborhood Resources Director

SUBJECT:      Inactive permit policy and open permit letter

DATE:             October 21, 2004

In an effort to reduce the number of outstanding permits with no inspection activity a city policy  developed during the Fall of 2002 and revised January 1, 2003 is in effect to address the issue (policy attached).  The policy affects two permit types, building permits and miscellaneous permits.  Plumbing, electrical, and mechanical permits are considered miscellaneous permits and are the focus of this memorandum. 

Monthly Report and Process Defined

At the beginning of each month staff receives a report from Information Systems that indicate all miscellaneous permits that have had no inspection activity for at least 30 days.  Staff reviews the report to identify any permits that may be listed that have had a recent inspection and should be removed from the mailing list, notification letters are then mailed to the contractor and owner.  The mailing may take place 5-10 days after the report was received and reviewed by staff.

Since the report is generated at month end to capture all miscellaneous permits with no activity for 30 days, it is possible that some permits on the report may include permits with more than 59 days of  no inspection activity.  This event will occur for all permits less than 30 days with no inspection activity at the time the report is run and will be on the following month’s report.  For example, a report generated March 30, will not include any permits issued during the month of March, but will include all permits with no inspection activity for the months of February and January.   In essence with this time frame, some contractors may have had an opportunity of up to 70 days to request an inspection.

Mechanical Board

The Mechanical Board expressed concern regarding the letter being sent to the homeowner at the August meeting and asked staff to review the letter and stop sending a copy to the homeowner.  Staff revised the letter sent to the homeowner to indicate the letter was a copy of the original letter sent to the contractor by adding a watermark.  A watermark prints on the homeowners’ letter  marking it “COPY.”  

Policy Results

As a result of this Inactive Permit Policy, staff has seen a dramatic decrease in inactive permits.  Prior to the current policy, staff made contact directly with the contractor and not the homeowner and had limited success in having the contractor schedule inspections.  However, once the homeowner was involved in the notification process, many inspections were requested directly from the property owner.