Building Services reports code updates, enforcement wins and training gains to committee

Building Services Director Kevin Sabati told the Public Safety and Use Services Committee that the department’s work is centered on safety and minimum standards, and he outlined recent code updates, enforcement activity and staff training.

"The purpose of a code is to protect the health, safety, and welfare, for those who occupy all our structures in Cedar Rapids," Sabati said during the presentation, which the committee opened for feedback after the update.

Sabati said the department last year updated the city’s housing code to the 2024 edition and rolled in about 102 local amendments after a series of public open houses, neighborhood association meetings and stakeholder sessions. He described the adoption process as several months of internal and external meetings and public comment and said the update became effective in July 2024.

The presentation covered the department’s two divisions: code enforcement (housing and property maintenance) and building and trades (permits and construction inspections). Sabati said code enforcement handles complaint inspections across owner‑occupied and commercial properties and enforces the International Property Maintenance Code used for the city’s rental registration and property maintenance standards. The building and trades division reviews permit drawings, inspects construction for code compliance and does annual liquor and beer inspections tied to licensing.

Sabati highlighted the department’s use of litigation to remove blight in a small number of cases—identified in his presentation as "6 57 a cases"—where the city sought and obtained title in court and either demolished or transferred properties for rehabilitation. He said staff prepared multi‑inch binders of evidence for those cases and noted Habitat (as referenced in the presentation) is rebuilding at least one parcel that went through that process.

Staff training and professional credentials were a major focus. Sabati said the department holds more than 150 certifications collectively from the International Code Council and that several staff members hold multiple ICC credentials; one manager, Greg Mila, was recognized by the American Association of Code Enforcement as Code Enforcement Manager of the Year. Sabati also described a range of trainings—from CPR and legal workshops to pest control and self‑defense—for code enforcement and building trade staff.

Statistics Sabati provided included roughly 2,369 active rental property owners covering 6,308 properties, a breakdown the presentation listed as 4,146 single‑family, 1,000 multifamily, 661 condominiums and 501 duplexes. He said 3,654 people had completed the department’s online landlord training since it launched and that code enforcement and rental inspections produced about 31,229 violations cited in the most recent year; combining inspections across divisions brings total cited violations to a little over 33,000, Sabati said.

On building and trades, Sabati said permit valuations totaled about $503,000,000 in 2024 (calendar year figures he provided), and that the department performed more than 14,000 inspections and issued nearly 10,000 permits in that period. He told the committee the city will propose another round of code updates for mechanical, electrical, plumbing and building codes within the next three to four months to align with state changes.

Committee members thanked staff for the report, praised the certifications and training effort, and suggested additional cross‑training with outside groups (for example, foster care review boards and child and adult dependent mandatory‑reporting training) given inspectors’ frequent contact with vulnerable residents. Sabati confirmed staff have invited outside agencies into training and said the department has closed a gap on mandatory landlord training created during the transition to an online course.

Sabati also described two specific instances that validated a department innovation: inspectors wearing portable carbon monoxide detectors in the field. "We wear those detectors...we were able to call the fire department and able to take action," he said, and he said those two incidents likely averted serious harm.

The committee did not take any formal action on codes at this meeting; Sabati said staff will return with code update proposals for committee and council consideration.