4.2. SR 01-28-2002 - Laserfiche WebLink

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indicated that this large rapid turn over in personnel, coupled with the differential in pay between Elk River and other nearby communities, will cause them to look for employment elsewhere. The City of Elk River is perilou~ly close to having a major turnover in its Building Department at a time when construction is at its highest levels in the communities' history. Building inspection is as much health/safety as though the inspectors had lights and sirens on their vehicles. It would be irresponsible for the City of Elk River to collect building permit fees and not provide quality and timely service. I feel an adequate case for increasing the inspector's wages has been made. I also feel there is a case to be made that an increase in their pay is legitimate as far as comparable worth. The Building Official's duties were distributed amongst the inspectors when he left. The city's Lead Inspector is now doing the commercial plan checks and aiding on a daily basis with the supervision of the Department. The other building inspectors are now inspecting commercial buildings, whereas before they were strictly residential inspectors. The new responsibility of commercial inspection requires additional expertise in construction practices and applications, additional communication skills (hosting meetings with architects and engineers) and a more in depth knowledge of the building code. I believe that these are all issues that raise the Building Official's point ranking as far as comparable worth. Recommendation ~ I recommend that city increase the pay all inspector positions immediately by $3,000 per year. ,., I recommend the city considered the create a new non-exempt pay grade 15 and that the Lead Inspector and Plumbing/Mechanical Inspector move from their current ranking at pay grade 14 to the new pay grade 15. I recommend the city consider moving the Building Inspectors from pay grade 13 to pay grade 14 and that they stay within their current step so it results in an immediate pay increase. On the city's pay scale, each higher pay grade is approximately $2,500 more per year. The increased wages for the Building Inspectors would make their new maximum pay $51,563. This increase will still leave Elk River's Building Inspectors below the average for the group 6 cities, which is $51,882. I would like to do more, if possible. " To pay for this increase, I am proposing to eliminate the vacant inspector position. This position was meant to off-set the lose of the Building Official, who's salary was approximately $59,000 per year. I know that the anticipated workload can be better handled with one less inspector than it can with a full compliment of inspectors with less experience. I would like to keep open the option of hiring seasonal help, if construction activity is higher than expected. Even if seasonal help is hired, this scenario will still be a sig..nificant savings for the city.