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Council moves to retain on-call building-code contractor; borough faces large apartment inspection workload
Summary
Council recommended retaining Building Inspection Underwriters of Pennsylvania on an as-needed basis, appointed Kyle Bendler as assistant BCO/assistant zoning officer, and discussed plans to inspect 4,929 rental apartments in 2025; staff said a contract to address apartment inspections may return to Smart Growth in February.
West Chester councilors supported a committee recommendation Jan. 14 to retain Building Inspection Underwriters of Pennsylvania as an on-call contractor for building code and zoning services and to appoint Kyle Bendler, BCO, as assistant building code official and assistant zoning officer.
Officials said the contract is as-needed: the borough would not pay unless services are used. Richard F. Westenberger, who spoke about the arrangement during the meeting, said, "the contract would remain on an as needed basis... And we would not be paying him unless we use his service." The staffing arrangement is intended as backup coverage, not a fixed-hours contract.
Councilors also pressed staff on the borough's apartment-inspection workload. The transcript records the figure 4,929 apartments as the number of units requiring inspection; councilors said the current two-person inspection staff cannot complete the work in 2025. Borough staff said they plan to present a contract to Smart Growth in February to address the inspection program and the inspections schedule.
Councilors urged staff to bring details to the next Smart Growth meeting about scope, whether the contractor will perform unit-by-unit inspections, and how the work will be billed.
