Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Building Department Contract topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council discusses contracting building-department services and proposed fee schedule; staff to clarify scope, response times and zoning review responsibilities
Summary
Council reviewed a proposed contract with an outside building-department service and an associated fee schedule; members asked staff to confirm whether the contractors responsibilities include zoning compliance and to document response-time guarantees before final adoption.
Council reviewed proposed legislation to authorize the village administrator to enter a contract with a private firm to provide residential building-department services and a companion ordinance to adopt a new fee schedule. Solicitor and staff described the contractors proposed scope, which includes building plan review, issuing permits, stop-work notices, code interpretation, and attendance at staff and council meetings. The proposed contract document lists service-level targets: for single-family projects the contractor proposes first comments within five business days and second comments within three business days or less, with longer response-time windows for larger or multifamily projects.
Council members asked staff and the solicitor whether zoning compliance (setbacks, impervious surface limits and other zoning requirements) would be part of the contractors review or remain the villages responsibility. The solicitor indicated that zoning questions would still come from the village but recommended staff confirm the definitive scope with the contractor before council authorizes emergency adoption. Council members also asked about guaranteed response times and whether the vendors service-level commitments were explicitly stated in the contract; staff said the vendors proposal included response-time targets and that staff would request clarification in writing.
Because zoning review responsibilities, response-time guarantees and public-notice practices for fee changes remain unresolved, council moved the proposed contract and fee schedule to a second reading rather than adopting emergency passage that would make the changes immediate. Council asked staff to publish the proposed fee schedule and supporting documents online so the public can review them before final action.
Clarifying details from the meeting: - Contract-proposed response targets: single-family first comments within five business days; second comments within three business days or less. Larger commercial and multifamily projects have longer windows specified in the vendor schedule. - The proposed fee schedule mirrors some existing residential fees but adds detail and additional permit categories; staff will publish full proposed fees for public review prior to adoption.
Next steps: staff to confirm in writing the scope of zoning review responsibilities, secure explicit response-time commitments from the contractor and post the proposed fee schedule on the village website. Both the ordinance authorizing contract execution and the fee-schedule ordinance will appear again for second reading.
