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Planning commission alerted to state law change; city to retitle building official and contract inspections
Summary
Commissioners were briefed on a new state requirement for certified building officials; the city will change the title to Community Development Director and continue contracting inspection services (e.g., Sunrise) to provide certified inspections and certificates of occupancy.
The Planning Commission received a staff briefing June 18 about a new state law requiring additional certifications for local building officials. City staff said few small cities currently have a single staff person who meets the state’s new certification requirements, and Woodland Hills plans to change personnel titles and continue contracting inspections.
City staff explained the change will replace the title “building official” in the municipal code with “community development director.” The city intends to contract with a qualified building inspection service (the transcript references the company Sunrise as an example) to perform inspections and to sign certificates of occupancy and other required certificates once inspections are documented. The community development director will continue to issue permits and oversee related duties but will not personally issue certificates of occupancy unless certified by the state as required.
Staff noted the change requires editing multiple code sections (the transcript references roughly eight pages of code changes) and that the city has until December or January to complete the revisions; staff indicated they expect to make the changes before January. Commissioners discussed the likely cost implications and suggested that additional inspection costs could be covered by building-permit fees.
The commission did not take formal action on the title-change briefing but directed staff to prepare code updates for council consideration so the city complies with state law.
