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School board presses Broward building department on staffing, outsourcing and process fixes
Summary
At a Broward County School Board workshop, trustees pressed district leaders and the chief building official for a systems analysis of the building department, discussed costs of outsourcing, and sought timelines and data to support faster project delivery ahead of a major capital program.
At a Broward County School Board workshop (date not specified), board members pressed district leaders on delays in plan review and inspections, staffing shortages in the building department, and whether outsourcing or increased in-house spending would speed delivery of school construction and modernization projects.
The conversation matters because the district is planning to spend large sums on capital work. Board members referenced roughly $800 million in the current capital fund and noted that changing how the district reviews and inspects projects could affect how quickly that money is spent and projects are completed.
Ms. Perla, the district's chief building official, said she took the post on Dec. 15, 2021, and described efforts to map the department's processes and reduce "finger pointing" between architects, engineers, consultants and district reviewers. She told the board the district currently outsources a substantial share of reviews and inspections and that the outsourcing contract is up for renewal; staff said they expect higher costs in the new contract but also hope to increase the number of inspectors available on site.
Board members asked for three concrete items: (1) an analysis of how large the building department should be to support the capital program, (2) data showing whether simultaneous reviews and other new practices improve turnaround, and (3) a transparent accounting of current spending versus the cost of full outsourcing. Ms. Perla and other staff agreed to share the staffing analysis with the board before the superintendent's reorganization in the spring.
On costs, staff said the district's internal building department payroll budget is about $2,508,417 and that the district currently pays outside vendors roughly $2 million a year for plan review and inspection work, for an estimated current total of about $4.5 million. Staff also told the board that a full outsource option presented on slides would cost about $6,000,000 annually. Ms. Perla said the district paid two vendors, CAP and NOVA USA, a combined $7.3 million over 2022'024 (with roughly $1.7M in 2022, $1.8M in 2023 and about $2.02M in 2024) and that those figures can be provided in more detail on follow up.
Board members pressed beyond the dollar figures. Dr. Zeman, a school board member, urged a hybrid approach that keeps a core in-house team while expanding contractor capacity, saying, "I don't care whether they're contractors or government. I want more government and more contractors." Several trustees said they would prefer to pay market wages to attract qualified staff and to invest in an aggressive apprenticeship program tied to district technical schools and local trade pipelines.
Trustees and staff discussed process changes the district is testing: a systems-mapping approach to set time expectations for each step, a move toward electronic plan review to make turnaround times visible, and more coordinated front-end checks with architects to reduce repeated plan rejections. Staff emphasized that many plan rejections stem from defects or missing information in submitted plans rather than review time alone.
Board members asked staff to provide a more extensive analysis than the four-case examples shown in the presentation. Specific follow-ups requested included a dataset comparing projects across a fixed point in time (for example, school projects at the start of the SMART cycle versus now), documentation of improved turnaround times attributable to new practices, and a clearer breakdown of how much of current work is outsourced versus handled internally.
Trustees also raised process and legal questions about touring the building department in person (possible Sunshine Law concerns) and were advised by legal staff that visits can be arranged sequentially to avoid quorum issues. Staff said that if the district moves to an outside-provider model the code requires auditing of the contracted reviewer, which would require retaining at least a skeleton internal function to manage and audit outsourced work.
No formal motions or votes were taken on the building department during the workshop. Board members voiced a clear interest in seeing what additional funding or organizational changes would be necessary to speed project delivery, with several trustees saying they would support higher spending if it produced demonstrable increases in construction throughput and project closures.
Next steps identified on the record: staff will share the staffing analysis with the board ahead of the superintendent's reorganization in the spring; staff will return more complete data on project review timelines and the vendor cost history; and the district will bring the updated outsourcing/contract terms back to the board when available.
The board signaled urgency: members repeatedly told staff they want an actionable plan and data showing whether investments in staff or contracts will translate into faster project completion as the district moves into larger bond and capital work.
