Council backs two enterprise-funded Permitting Services positions; bilingual outreach post put on reconciliation list

The council accepted committee recommendations related to the Department of Permitting Services— FY26 budget: two enterprise-funded enhancement positions were approved for the base, while a third, bilingual administrative outreach position was put on the reconciliation list.

What was approved: Committee members recommended funding a senior permitting services specialist (an electrical plans examiner) and a program manager in the commercial building division to help improve plan review turnaround times and deployment of staff resources. DPS staff said the two positions are enterprise-funded and carry no direct general-fund implication.

Reconciliation list item: The committee placed an administrative specialist position focused on community engagement and Spanish-language outreach on the reconciliation list. The department requested the outreach capacity to expand Spanish-language engagement and support small-business and residential applicants.

Why it matters: Director Rabia Sabakan told the committee that DPS handles a high volume of permits and that the additional positions would address workload, improve turnaround time and support electrification and other code-review demands: "It's important to make sure that we have all the resources available. And, those 3 enhancement requests, we feel are instrumental to getting us to where we need to be on that world class status." DPS said electrical plan-review capacity in particular needs reinforcement to meet emerging electrification requirements.

Ending: The council accepted the committee recommendation to include the two enterprise-funded positions in the base budget and left the bilingual outreach post for reconciliation, giving members extra time to review the enterprise-funded request.