Payson struggles to fill engineering and building positions; council supports continued use of contract services

Development services staff told the council April 1 that the town is operating with multiple long-term vacancies in engineering and building roles and has been relying on outside consultants to maintain plan reviews, inspections and customer service.

Vacancies, workload and impacts - Current vacancies identified by staff included: town engineer/deputy public-works director (previously a dual role), assistant town engineer, principal engineer, and a chief building official. The building division also reported a period in 2023 when the inspector and building-official positions were vacant and the department relied heavily on contractors. - Staff said shortages extend the time required for plan review and inspection, increase overtime and create service delays for applicants. Council members and staff discussed how those delays can cascade into project slowdowns for subdivisions and commercial projects.

Use of contractors and costs - Staff described a two-pronged approach: supplement with contract engineering firms for customer-driven plan reviews and retain a local firm for on-site inspections as needed. Strand Associates has been the primary consulting engineering firm for plan-review workload in recent years; Brown & Associates has been used for building inspections, plan review and interim building-official services. - Finance and planning staff reported that Payson paid Brown & Associates roughly $311,000 in professional fees from 2023 through early 2025 for inspection and plan-review services. Plan-review fees collected from applicants offset a portion of those costs (staff said about $252,000 in plan-review permit fees were collected during the period cited), and the town budgets both personnel and professional-services line items to cover these needs.

Recruitment and alternative staffing strategies - The town engaged an executive recruiter (Duffy Group) to identify passive candidates for engineering and building-official positions; Duffy reported outreach to more than 100 passive candidates but cited common refusals due to candidates— unwillingness to relocate, being happy in current roles, or compensation concerns. Staff also noted that candidates often cite trailing-spouse employment, mortgages and quality-of-life factors as relocation barriers. - Staff proposed a range of recruitment strategies: increased signing/relocation incentives (the town is offering up to $10,000 in hiring incentive for some positions), flexible/hybrid or partial remote arrangements where feasible, shared-service agreements with other agencies, targeted internal professional development to promote from within, and continued use of contract services for specialized or overflow work.

Council direction - Council members expressed support for continuing to use contracted services while recruitment continues. Several council members asked staff to expand remote/hybrid recruitment where possible, to evaluate whether certain roles can be performed remotely, and to report back on candidate pipelines and any successful incentives.

Why it matters: plan-review and inspection capacity affect the town—s ability to process development requests and to complete capital projects. Contracted services maintain continuity but are an ongoing budget item that town staff said is usually offset in part by permit and plan-review revenues.

Next steps: staff will continue active recruitment, deploy hiring incentives where appropriate, test expanded remote/hybrid recruitment options, continue using consultants for plan-review and inspection overflow, and return to council with updated recruitment results and any recommended pay or incentive changes.