St. Louis building division asks for more staff and funds as inspections, board-ups and short-term rental enforcement rise

The St. Louis Building Division asked the Board of Aldermen’s Budget and Public Employees Committee on May 7 for more staff and budget flexibility as inspectors, demolitions and a new short‑term rental program increase workload.

"The building division is responsible for ensuring the residents and businesses comply with all of the city's building code and other related regulations," Building Commissioner Ed Ware told the committee, outlining inspections, permitting, housing preservation and demolition responsibilities.

Ware said the division currently has about 170 active employees and recently requested a budget that would increase the authorized staffing to 231, with a returned proposed total of 212. The division covers permitting, plan exam, trades inspections, zoning, fire‑safety code enforcement, a Healthy Homes repair program and demolition of unsafe structures. Ware described a plan‑exam team that was reduced to one examiner a year earlier and is now rebuilding toward a typical staffing level of four senior plan examiners and a chief plan examiner.

Committee members pressed the division for details about specific shortfalls and program needs. Deputy Building Commissioner Dylan Mosher described recruitment and pay pressures: the division petitioned the personnel director for a…