01-26-2004 CC MIN - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Minutes Page 3 January 26, 2004 ----------------------------- 5.2 Consideration of Contracting for Apartment Inspections Building and Environmental Administrator Stephen Rohlf explained that due to an increase in building activities, largely due to recent projects by D.R. Horton and Centex Homes, the building inspectors do not have time available to conduct apartment inspections in 2004. Staff has offered the following alternatives: (1) license apartments in 2004, but don’t inspect them this year; (2) turn apartment inspections and licensing over to the Fire Department; (3) hire a temporary employee to deal with apartment inspections and licensing; or (4) contract for apartment inspections in 2004. Staff is recommending contracting with former Building Official Cliff Skogstad of Top Notch Home Inspection for the apartment inspections. Councilmember Dietz asked Mr. Rohlf if inspections could be skipped for a year since there have been no new apartments, and then, turn it over to the fire department next year. Mr. Rohlf answered that this could be done, that some cities do every-other-year inspections, but he feels strongly against this practice without giving prior notice to the apartment owners. He stated the apartment owners would still be charged a fee and they really are entitled to an inspection. Councilmember Tveite stated that he would not feel comfortable charging a licensing fee and not doing an inspection. He felt that we would need to consider waiving the fee and that we would be setting a precedent. He stated that some of the apartments are getting older and they do need to be inspected. City Administrator Klaers stated that he supports moving this work to the Fire Department and that the other option would be adding an employee to the Fire Department this year. Mayor Klinzing asked why the amount of money to contract an apartment inspector would be coming from the Council Contingency Funds and isn’t there anything in the individual budgets to allow for this? City Administrator Klaers stated that the building permit revenue above the budget amount last year helped to balance the LGA cuts that were received. He explained that we do not want to overstaff in the Building Department, and then have to lay off individuals when development slows down. Mayor Klinzing compared it to if we had a lot of snow and the workers were tired and we would have to hire some additional help, would that money come out of the Council Contingency Funds? City Administrator Klaers stated that we do not have any extra money to hire outside contractors or people, and yes, the money would need to come out of the Council Contingency or Fund Balance Reserves. Currently, there is less than one percent of the total budget in the Council Contingency Fund and it is one of his budget goals to get that percentage higher. Councilmember Motin stated why not allocate expense towards the department with the understanding that it would be a charge back with budget adjustments later on.