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Inspectional services to deploy new software, warns rodent program capacity limited
Summary
The inspectional services director said a planned software upgrade should speed five-year habitability inspections and free inspectors for fieldwork; the department also described a limited rodent baiting program and said trash removal and DPW coordination are key to success.
The director of inspectional services described a FY26 budget that holds staffing roughly steady while seeking a new software platform to automate the five-year certificate of habitability process and reduce manual reports. The department also discussed an ongoing rodent program and steps to better track sightings.
The inspectional services proposed budget is about $1.58 million (a small year-over-year decline). The department said inspectors often write reports in Word and attach them to the permanent database, and that a new software product (the department discussed OpenGov and other vendors) will let staff populate inspection fields, mass-mail notices and generate reports. The director said the upgrade should reduce human error and free inspectors for more field inspections.
On rodents, the director described a limited baiting program that a contractor operates (Friday service and follow-ups) and said the city receives many sighting reports; the director said trash and accessible food sources are a major driver of rodent activity. The department said it currently could not scale the baiting program to hundreds of new requests without bringing work in-house or increasing staff and noted that DPW handles public-right-of-way work while inspectional services focuses on private property enforcement and coordination.
Councilors asked about hiring: the department recently filled two housing code enforcement inspector positions; one started a month before the meeting and another started the prior week. The director said these hires came from a competitive pool and will increase capacity.
The council did not take formal votes in the presentation.
