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Council declines to staff code compliance on weekends; staff to rely on on-call coverage and consider enforcement changes
Summary
Councilor George Cepeda asked for paid weekend code-enforcement and permitting coverage; staff said an on-call system is already in place for emergencies and recommended using new software'based complaint tools and targeted fee/enforcement changes instead of hiring weekend staff.
Councilor George Cepeda asked city staff at a workshop to consider providing building-permitting, inspections and code-compliance services on weekends and holidays after reporting weekend construction activity without permits.
Staff said Rosenberg currently uses an on-call schedule to handle emergencies that occur on weekends and holidays; non-emergency complaints are triaged and handled when staff resumes the regular schedule. "An on call schedule is in place to address emergencies as needed," the city executive summary on the agenda states.
Code and permitting staff told council that work done without permits is subject to double fees and that enforcement steps include mailing notice to homeowners and, if necessary, red-tagging unsafe work until it is corrected. Brian (IT/project lead) said the planned MyGovernmentOnline software will provide a 24-hour customer portal and mobile reporting tools so residents can file complaints and schedule inspections; those complaints would route to dispatch or the on-call inspector for emergencies.
Council and staff discussed additional enforcement tools such as an investigation fee for after-the-fact permits (an example cited from a prior Houston practice was a roughly $284 investigation fee added to permit fees). Staff cautioned that permanently staffing weekend inspectors in the past had operational and supervisory challenges because weekend staff work alone and have limited access to plan-review resources; the city's summary of peer cities shows most Fort Bend County cities do not provide routine weekend inspections.
Council reaction: Several councilmembers favored using the upcoming software tools and the existing on-call system rather than hiring a dedicated weekend code officer. The council asked staff to draft follow-up items if they wanted to consider new penalties or an investigation fee structure.
Next steps: Staff will continue on-call weekend coverage for emergencies, deploy the MGO citizen portal after implementation, and prepare a future agenda item if council wants to consider changes to penalties or an investigator fee for after-the-fact permits.
