Background/Discussion
The Permits & Inspections Division of the Community Development Department is charged with handling all applications, permits, and inspections related to construction activity; administering the rental housing inspection program; and responding to nuisance violations and complaints. This division is currently coordinated by two Permit Technicians: one that serves primarily the building functions and one that serves primarily rental housing and nuisance violations (weeds and solid waste etc.). This division is “public-facing”, meaning that there is a high volume of interaction in person, over the phone, and electronically with a variety of patrons from concerned citizens, to design professionals, to contractors, to renters, to property owners. The high volume of activity generated results in disruption of administrative workflow in order to attend to the needs of patrons while at the same time slower response rates to visitors and phone calls etc. The two Permit Technicians have done a level of cross-training, which has helped in the event of an absence by one of them, but when one of the two is out of the office, workflow (routing of plan reviews, scheduling inspections, etc.) is sacrificed in order to serve patrons as they call or arrive in person. The difficulty of performing at a high-level is exacerbated during peak operational times. Additionally, with the dissolution of the Health Department, the two Sanitarians that handle nuisance violations have been relocated to the Permits & Inspections Division of the Community Development Department. During especially wet seasons, weed nuisance complaints cause an especially high volume, which adds to the burdens of the Permit Technician staff mentioned above. The proposal is to add a Division Secretary position to the Permits & Inspections Division in order to bolster workflow productivity while improving customer service and response times. This position was budgeted in the FY20 operating budget. |
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