Approve Changing Permit Technician Assistant to a Full-Time Employee

The purpose of this case is to consider approval for changing the current Permit Technician Assistant to a full-time employee due to current and ongoing workload demands in the Community Development Department. There is no title change and no change in hourly pay associated with this current request.

Increasing the Permit Technician Assistant's hours to 40 hours per week for the remainder of 2015 will increase expenditures by $13,511. This assumes an additional 560 hours with health insurance waived. The increase is expenditure is offset by the increase in actual revenue from Building Permits. The increase in hours has already been factored into the proposed 2016 Budget and has a net effect of an increase of $4,480 following other line item reductions. This increase cost is also offset by additional over and above the original forecasted levels for 2015. Permit levels in all sectors are exceeding original expectations for 2015 and are outlined in the attached spreadsheet.

The need for the added hours appears justified upon analysis by Staff. In terms of approved metrics, the City uses the following as acceptable guidelines:

 

Activity	Metric	Actual
Plan Review - Residential	10 Business Days	15-20 Business Days
Plan Review - Commercial	30 Business Days	30-45 Business Days
Inspection Window	24-48 Hours	24 Hours

The City has been able to maintain acceptable metrics for scheduling inspections and completing the task of actual plan review within acceptable metrics. However, due to the volume of phone calls and emails for scheduling and inquiries, the administrative staff for Community Development has had a difficult time completing permit administration (permit intake and issuance).  Primarily, the current delays in the plan review timeframe are not the actual plan review itself, yet the permit administration and issuance process due to the backlog of permits in the queue.

This positions primary duties include, but are not limited to the following:
 

• Serve as primary point of contact for contractors and residents applying for Building Permits (phone calls, walk-ins, emails) and route to appropriate team member
• Complete initial permit intake, enter into system/assign Permit number, send into routing for plan review, and track status/location of permit
• Complete New City Utility Account Set Up Form to forward to Finance Department
• Schedule inspections for approved Permits

For 2015 Budget planning purposes, Staff mirrored 2014 revenue numbers that were available at the time of establishing the 2015 Budget. Feedback from the single-family development market was not extremely confident, so the City took a conservative approach to revenue forecasts. At that time, there were multiple projects under review, but were in too early stages to confidently add to revenue forecasts. At that time it was noted that Staff was hopeful that actual revenues would be higher, but was too soon to include in revenue forecasts for 2015. In this case, these potential projects that were uncertain at the time have a higher degree of certainty to move forward.

Since that time, 2015 activity levels have exceeded expectations. New single-family starts are on track to exceed 2014 numbers by 25%. New townhome unit starts are up to 31 from 0 starts in 2014. Additionally, Building Permits have been issued for Sunwood Village (47 unit apartment building) and Parkview East (121 unit apartment building). The City has also approved two (2) industrial expansions that were not known until recently (Dedicated Networks, Life Fitness).

With several of these larger, key projects commencing in mid-to-late fall, scheduling demands will remain consistent throughout the winter months. It has been Staff's observation that even with minimal permit levels, it has been important to have one Staff member dedicated to phones and scheduling with another Staff member dedicated to permit issuance and processing in order to maintain generally acceptable metrics above. It is also noted that based on the levels of new home construction, it is anticipated that the rate of home improvement projects in future levels will continue to increase accordingly (decks, sheds, fences, basement finishes, etc.). In summary, Staff has confidence that permit levels and corresponding revenue forecasts will continue to support the need for this position for the foreseeable future.

Staff believes that the increase in hours will have a much higher rate of return in terms of customer service and morale. Staff that administers Building Permits has expressed feeling rushed through permits in order to keep up with appropriate turnaround times. This in turn increases opportunity for human errors which impacts the relationship/perception of the customer as well as other departments in the development review process. While no mechanism to document this feedback about the quality of customer service in a more formal manner is in place, Staff desires to note it appears that the informal complaints about turnaround time and issues with coordination appear to be increasing. Staff believes this change will bring service levels within appropriate levels as noted above.

Funding for this position is part of the General Fund. The increase in cost is offset by the increase in revenue captured from issued Building Permits.

Staff recommends that the City Council authorize changing the Permit Technician Assistant to a full-time employee.

Motion to authorize changing the Permit Technician Assistant to a full-time employee.