At a budget workshop, city staff and councilors discussed routing building permits through Bureau Veritas and using an existing employee to perform full‑time code enforcement to avoid adding a new city position.

Supporters said outsourcing would streamline the permitting process and place the cost on applicants rather than the city. A staff member said, “I just got off the phone with Moe from Bureau Veritas, and they can, as long as someone takes the application and sends it to ... Bureau Veritas, they will go back and forth with the applicant until they get all the information.”

Officials said the change would not require hiring a new permit technician. Heather, described in the meeting as an employee “who already has the code enforcement training,” was cited as someone who could be reassigned to full‑time code enforcement. One council participant summarized the financial logic: passing Bureau Veritas’ minimal additional costs to applicants would be “a wash” for the city and could even reduce city expenses.

Staff identified several practical steps: the city would accept applications and payments, scan documents, and transmit them to Bureau Veritas for technical review and applicant communications; the city would retain scanning, intake, and payment processing. The discussion also noted existing software and record concerns: the meeting referenced iWORKS and ENcode 10 and the need to preserve historical permit details that may not migrate to newer systems.

Participants cautioned the city should monitor Bureau Veritas’ fees and workload. One councilor asked that the arrangement be reevaluated within about six months to confirm it does not cost the city more as responsibilities shift. The meeting did not record a formal vote; participants described this as an agreed‑upon direction to pursue outsourcing and reassign duties, subject to later review.

The workshop also touched on related operational details: which staff would accept payments and scan permits, how animal control might take on some intake duties, and how permit records from earlier years (some referenced as 20 years old) must remain accessible for public records requests. No statutory authority was cited during this discussion.

Next steps described in the meeting included scheduling a follow‑up workshop with Bureau Veritas to clarify costs and workflows and implementing duty adjustments so the city does not add head count to handle permitting intake.