Building Official Recruitment

Since early May 2024, the City has contracted with Andy Schreder, Rum River Consultants (RRC), to be the City's designated Building Official.  This was due to the resignation of the former Building Official.  During this time, Mr. Schreder has worked closely with the Community Development Director and the City Administrator to assess the operations of the Building Division and provide insight from his decades of experience on how the City should proceed forward.  In addition to the insight from Mr. Schreder, existing staff have recommended operational adjustments that have increased the division's efficiency. The current staffing levels within the division include a vacant Building Official, two full-time Building Inspectors, a $34.56 hr./ 34 hrs per week Permit Technician, a $32.92 hr/20 hrs per week Permit Technician and a $27.14 hr/28 hrs per week Administrative Assistant.  Over the past several years, we have also brought in supplemental building inspector services during the summer building months.  With additional efficiency improvements to be implemented over the next year, the staffing level in the Building Division is close to what it needs to be. 

The recommendation to replace the Building Official is to promote Thomas Knight, Building Inspector, to Assistant Building Official.  Mr. Knight would remain in this role for approximately one year to receive targeted training by RRC to assume the full role of Building Official on or near July 1, 2025.  During this time, the Building Inspector position would remain vacant, but it would be supplemented by services from RRC.  The vacant Building Inspector position would be filled on or near April 1, 2025.  The reason for the vacancy in this position stems from the low likeliness of hiring an experienced building inspector that would require little to no training.  Furthermore, the position would not be filled until sometime in September, which is nearing the end of the busy construction season. By hiring the position to start near April 1, 2025, that would allow for about one month of time to train a new person on our operational procedures, software, etc. prior to the building season typically beginning in May.

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2024 Financial Impact

RRC Building Official Duties (30hrs./week, June - December)	+ $85,500
Thomas Knight, Asst. Building Official (July - December)	+ $3,358
RRC Building Inspector Services (June - December)	+ $98,800
RRC Building Inspector Services Paid from 2024 Budget (January - May)	+ $15,805
Vacant Building Official Savings (May 18 - December 31)	-  $90,017
Total additional budget impact	$113,446

*2024 Budget for Inspection Services is $35,000. To date, inspection services are $15,805 over-budget.
2025 Financial Impact additional from 2024 (this would be reflected in the 2025 Budget)

RRC Building Official Duties (30hrs./week, January - June)	+$98,800
RRC Building Inspection Services (January - December)	+ $113,200
Thomas Knight, Asst. Building Official to BO (July - December)	+ $10,660
Vacant Building Inspector Savings	-  $45,502
Vacant Building Official Savings	-  $18,755
Total additional budget Impact from normal year	$158,403

Recognizing current supplemental inspection services from prior years, the 2025 budget will reflect additional supplement inspection hours.  Another factor for the additional hours in 2025 is due to the projected number of commercial projects that are currently under review or anticipated to begin. These services will be utilized on an as-needed basis, but it is predicted that supplemental services will be near 40 hours a week during the months of May through October.  The winter months will reflect 20 hours a week of supplemental services.  These services would be utilized in order to stay within established metrics for plan review timelines and inspection timelines.  For residential plan reviews, staff's goal is to issue permits no more than 10 business days from plan submittal.  For commercial, the goal is 30 days given the higher complexity of the plans and additional review requirements depending on the project.

Brian Hagen, City Administrator
Stephanie Hanson, Community Development Director

Provide consensus approval on the action plan.