Pasco extends permitting support contract for several weeks after post-storm surge

The Pasco County Board of County Commissioners voted April 9 to extend temporary contracted permitting assistance provided through Title Basin to help process a post-storm surge of building permit applications.

J.P. Murphy, director of Building and Construction Services, told the board the purchase order that funded Title Basin’s support under account 12/2006 expired the night before and staff asked to extend services through a purchase-service agreement executed by the chair. “We wanted to increase transparency and put that in front of the commission,” Murphy said, describing the contractor’s role in plan review, inspections and permitting-center assistance.

Murphy said the county saw “such a huge spike in the month of March with folks coming in” and that the county planned a roughly seven-week extension to “taper those services off.” He told the board staff requested FEMA reimbursement under the appropriate damage category and expected most costs to be reimbursed.

The board moved and approved the extension; staff said the agreement will be funded from the Building Construction Services fund (2104) and that they expected FEMA reimbursement but had not received a final determination at the time of the vote.

Ending note Murphy said the change from a purchase order to a purchase-service agreement required chair signature; no additional details about the contractor's hourly rates or the total dollar extension amount were included in the meeting record.