MEMORANDUM
To: Mike Wildgen
City Manager
From: Debbie Van Saun
Asst. City Manager
Re: Restructuring of Neighborhood Resources Department
Date: July 20, 2005
During the July 20, 2005 budget study session, Commissioner Schauner had questions about staff’s recommendation to include the Zoning Enforcement Manager position in the 2006 budget. As you know, this position, along with an additional building inspector/permit technician position was included in the Neighborhood Resources Department’s program improvements portion of their submitted 2006 budget recommendations. This memo provides additional information that will address concerns/questions about this recommendation.
The Zoning Enforcement Manager position was the number one ranked program improvement of the budget proposed by Victor Torres, Director of the Neighborhood Resources Department. Due to the restructuring proposed along with this position request, there will be no additional “management” or supervisory personnel added to the department. The current position of Inspection Supervisor (direct supervisor of the building inspectors) will be converted to a Plans Examiner position in 2006. The Plans Examiner position plus all the building inspector positions will report directly to the current Code Enforcement Manager.
During the study session, questions were raised regarding the value of a Plans Examiner position. The plan examination/review process is a crucial one in the code enforcement operations of the department. Additionally, approved plans are required to be on the jobsite for inspector review throughout the construction/inspection process. Projects may change during construction, in that plans may have to be field adjusted, but all adjustments meet or exceed all applicable codes or are not approved.
During the plan examination/review process, there are some general items that come under scrutiny:
1. Plans are reviewed to ensure submittals meet all current adopted code, Building, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing and Fire.
2. Professionally engineered plans may be required in some cases.
3. The location of the project’s relationship to the historic environs, a flood plain, or any other area of concern (such as subdivisions that have not been released for building permits).
a. Approval is required from the Historic Review Committee for all properties located in the historic environs.
b. A flood plain development permit is required for all properties located in the flood plain.
4. Assign/verify street address.
5. Verify contractor information, including checking for licensed subcontractors.
6. Compare plot plan to plat for location on lot requirements, minimum egress building opening, and other notes specific to the lot.
7. Number of street trees required for each residential lot is determined.
Additional specific information relative to the items reviewed for residential and/or commercial construction during the plan examination/review process is available, along with references to the City Code.
The Building Inspector/Permit Technician position that was also submitted by Victor as a 2006 program improvement would not be a field-oriented position. Rather, it was envisioned that the position would be responsible for working with permit applications, issuing permits, tracking inspections and ensuring inactive permits were properly closed out. While the position would improve the department’s ability to process permit applications in a timely fashion and track construction projects through to completion, the greater need for the department is in the aforementioned manager position.
Staff recommends the inclusion of the additional position of Zoning Enforcement Manager to the 2006 budget. Additional information supporting this recommendation was made available in a June 23, 2005 staff memo.