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Ciry Council Minutes <br />August 1, 2011 <br />Page 4 <br />Councilmember Gumphrey noted he spent a lot of time talking to building inspectors on a <br />past personal project. • <br />Councilmember Motin questioned if there is a way to have a hybrid plan in place when the <br />building inspection workload increases in a better economy. He suggested keeping a base of <br />staff but then contracting out some of the work during busier times. <br />Mr. Thistle stated this could be one approach the city could consider if Council would like <br />staff to come back with options. He believed the issue is how to keep staffing and costs <br />inline as the city goes through changes in the economy. He stated there is still the need to be <br />careful so the city is not too tight or sacrifices customer service. He stated staff could <br />evaluate this if Council directs them. <br />Mr. Ruprecht listed the example of the year when the city had some bad storms and had to <br />hire an intern to get through the excess of roofing permits for the year. <br />There was discussion on Exhibit 2 regarding the Building Inspection Comparison. <br />Mr. Thistle stated staff did not take into consideration how Ramsey monitors the quality of <br />inspection a customer receives. He stated in any contract, the service component needs to be <br />addressed. He stated with inspections, problems can appear further down the road. He <br />questioned what the additional management cost may be to manage these type of contracts. <br />Mayor Dietz stated the Council will take the report under consideration. <br />Mr. Thistle questioned if Council would like staff to do anything further on this item. <br />Councilmember Gumphrey stated he had no interest in going further. He stated the quality <br />of service being provided by the city is essential and the safety factor is important. <br />Councilmember Zerwas concurred but stated the city needs to look at the time that is being <br />allocated for energy audits, residential rental inspections, and some of the stuff that has been <br />added in the last couple of years. He stated the city needs to look at what's key and focused <br />to the mission if inspection workloads are increasing. He stated the city is not in a position <br />to be adding extra work at this time. <br />Mr. Thistle stated staff could continue to track the trends and evaluate other options on how <br />to handle an increase in inspections but that this could be evaluated separately from the <br />budget. <br />Mayor Dietz stated he would like to see other options. <br />Councilmember Motin stated he is not opposed to looking at other options but maintain <br />status of current employees. He stated if the economy improves he would like to look at <br />evaluating options such as contracting out. He suggested looking at this again in 2013 if the <br />economy improves. <br />Councilmember Gumphrey agreed with the timeframe. <br />Mr. Thistle stated staff will follow this direction and wait to evaluate it. <br />• <br />