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Concern as search begins for new BC building official
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| By: Mark J. Crawford, Editor |
November 06, 2009 |
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Bradford County commissioners spent most their Monday meeting wrestling with how to continue providing inspections for local building contractors, deciding eventually to temporarily contract with an Orlando firm for the services while it seeks a permanent replacement for its building official.
It will also rely on assistance from neighboring counties to fill in on those days when a contracted building official is not scheduled to work.
Bradford County has been relying on Union County for inspection services since May, when the former building official, Wilson Whidden, retired. Union's Wayne Mundorff was paid for his service to Bradford County while building department employee Steve Kirker pursued certification. Ultimately, Kirker was unsuccessful, and the county let him go this week.
Though able to provide some services for the county, he couldn't provide full building inspection services, and County Manager Brad Carter said there was not enough money to share duties between Kirker and another individual, so the county had to let him go.
This leaves Bradford County without a building official on staff after many months, and Carter found other counties could only provide limited assistance while a search for a new building official is carried out.
He turned to a firm out of Orlando that provides building services for a number of municipalities, Page, Dixon, Chandler and Smith LLC, represented at Mondays meeting by Michael Kraftsow and Paul Smith.
At issue was how long this arrangement would last and how well it would work for local contractors. The question of whether the county would eliminate its building official position, suspend it or actively seek to fill it was also raised. Although representatives from the Orlando company expressed interest in a more permanent relationship, county commissioners and local contractors had concerns about a long-term or undefined term of service.
Building contractor Randy Hayes said a major concern was interpretation of the building code between the contractors and the building official and how there could be a breakdown in communication or understanding if a company is rotating employees in and out of that position. That's one reason why the county needs an in-house inspector, he said. He also wanted to know what would happen is someone needed to pull a permit or get an inspection on emergency work and there wasn't someone on staff to handle those services.
The contract building official is only expected to be on the job two to three days a week.
Surrounding counties have their own building officials, and Bradford County is certainly big enough to have one of its own, Hayes said.
Warren Stevenson said in his 35 years as a building contractor the county has always had a building official on staff and would be headed in the wrong direction if it were looking to contract that work out. In addition to inspections, he also wondered how long contractors would have to wait to get building plans approved if the county didn't have a full-time official on the job.
Stevenson was concerned even a temporary contract for outside service could drag on indefinitely. Hayes said there could be an increased in unlicensed work going on if there wasn't an inspector in the county aware of where work was going on.
The county was also criticized for not foreseeing this issue and working to prevent a situation that could cost contractors time and money.
Commissioner Ross Chandler said a contract for the services of a temporary building official was best route the county could take at the moment to assure contractors they will still be able to conduct business as usual. Chandler eventually moved to approve a 30-day contract with the Orlando firm after a motion by Commissioner John Wayne Hersey to table the contract until Nov. 19 for additional details to be worked out (with the county using inspectors from its neighbors in the meantime) failed for lack of support.
The commission supported the 30-day contract unanimously, although it seems unavoidable that an extension will be needed. It will almost certainly take longer to find and get a qualified building official on staff. Carter later said he believed the point of the short contract was to emphasize that finding the individual to fill that position will be a priority for the county.
Commissioner Eddie Lewis said when the county fills the position, it needs to be with someone who has their license in hand.
Cost also played a role in the discussion. The contract with Page, Dixon, Chandler and Smith calls for the company to be paid 80 percent of the fees collected for building inspection services in the county. Alternatively, the county could pay around $90 an hour.
While under the first scenario, the firm would only receive a percentage of the fees collected, which would be 80 percent of all the building fees collected, including those for the inspections it did not carry out. That would limit the amount of money the county has to reimburse outside counties for their assistance on days the firm's building official isn't here.
The initial concern with paying the hourly rate was the uncertainty there will be enough work to have an interim inspector around full-time two to three days a week. Negotiations following the meeting, however, determined that the hourly rate was the way to go. Carter said the firm's building official will be scheduled for three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but the county would try to let the company know in advance whether the inspector would indeed be needed on a particular day.
The county will draw payments from the normal service fees collected, but the contracted building official will only be paid for actual hours worked, leaving other fee revenue to compensate work conducted by the inspectors from other counties.
Carter said Page, Dixon, Chandler and Smith has been cooperative in understanding the county's needs. He said the county is going to do its best to make the arrangement work as an interim solution while the county seeks a qualified building official of its own.
Contractors can assist by trying to notify the county in advance when an inspection will be required-a shift in procedure for those used to same-day inspections. The county is aware that emergencies can happen, Carter said, and in these situations it will draw upon officials from neighboring counties.
Because familiarity with the individual doing the work was a concern for contractors present at Monday's meeting, a meeting between Page, Dixon, Chandler and Smith's assigned building official and local contractors has been scheduled for this coming Monday, Nov. 9, at 8 a.m. in the county commission boardroom.
Carter said contractors attending this meeting could get to know the building official the firm has assigned to Bradford County and will get to ask questions to alleviate any remaining concerns they may have.
In a related matter, Kirker had qualified to conduct fire inspections in the county, and the county's goal was to combine fire and building inspections in the same position. According to Carter, fire inspection services will not be among the qualifications sought as the county searches for a new building official. Instead, it will likely contract out future fire inspection services, he said.
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©Bradford County Telegraph 2010
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