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 general recruitment rate increase for senior plan examiners to "just under $65,000," Mosher said; that request was denied previously and is planned to be refiled. Mosher added that competition from neighboring jurisdictions and private industry is a persistent hiring challenge.

The committee heard specific short‑term rental figures and timing. Ware and Mosher said the division is preparing to regulate transient rentals and cited outside vendor work to identify listings; Mosher said data show roughly 3,500 unique short‑term rental listings across about 2,000 units and that the program’s rollout is on hold under a temporary restraining order issued by a judge. Ware said the division expects to inspect short‑term rental units annually if the program resumes, which would shift many housing‑conservation inspections into a new permitting stream.

Demolition and security were a separate emphasis. Ware recounted last year’s emergency security costs at the Railway Exchange after repeated break‑ins that followed condemnation work, saying the city spent approximately $65,000 a month to secure that site under emergency contracts. For fiscal 2026 the division requested line‑item funding of $744,000 (identified in the presentation as under account 11/21, line 562003) to cover security costs for very large unsafe buildings, a need Ware tied to Ordinance 71742, which amended Section 119.3 of the code to require higher security for condemned buildings over 500,000 square feet.

Board‑up and vacancy response also drew sustained attention. Ware said the division requested nine utility/board‑up workers in its table of organization but was allowed four; he said Arnold Mitchell, who oversees the board‑up crew, told him the minimum needed to operate is five. Aldermen warned that four citywide board‑up field staff cannot reliably secure multiple large structures simultaneously, and commissioners described frequent re‑securing of the same buildings after tampering.

Committee members asked for follow‑up on several finance and staffing questions Ware raised, including the status of a 12‑10 account tied to contractual work with the Land Reutilization Authority and the vacant building initiative funds (C6216 and a second fund referenced in the presentation). Deputy Budget Director Jim Benoist told the committee the city created a separate fund (Vacant Building Initiative Fund 2) and reallocated newly increased fees so 50% of revenue supports Community Development Administration grants and 50% supports program maintenance and enforcement; Benoist said the split was intended to improve tracking of the new fee revenue and expenditures.

Why it matters: inspectors, plan examiners and board‑up crews are the frontline safety staff for housing, commercial construction and public‑safety responses. Aldermen repeatedly framed staffing shortfalls as a driver of slower permitting, longer conditional‑use backlogs and greater exposure to repeated break‑ins, fires and unsafe collapses.

What the division will do next: Ware said he and Deputy Commissioner Mosher are locating the 12‑10 account and will provide the committee with a follow‑up on PropNS contractual staffing and funding. The division also plans to continue recruiting for plan‑exam and trade inspector positions and to refile the general recruitment request to increase entry pay for critical planning positions.

"We keep fighting the good fight" was Ware’s repeated summation of ongoing hiring and service challenges as the division seeks to stabilize operations while responding to immediate demolition and security needs.

Ending: The committee did not take a formal vote on the division’s requests during the hearing. Aldermen said they will review potential amendments to the mayor’s proposed budget during the committee’s deliberations and work with the budget office to track special‑fund allocations and position funding requests.