Gordon County building inspector reports EPD audit results, online permitting launch and inspection workload

Speaker 3 (building inspector) presented the department’s report to the board, thanking the commission and describing recent office work and accomplishments.

Key points in the report included an EPD (Environmental Protection Division) county audit of floodplain permits covering the past five years, work to bring permits into compliance, and updates to the county’s floodplain ordinance to address EPD concerns. Speaker 3 told the board the office would continue floodplain management given the county’s extensive floodplain areas and frequent need to address floodplain issues in permitting.

Speaker 3 also noted recent local ordinances that aided enforcement and public safety, including a provision addressing lithium‑ion battery storage and a policy easing use of RVs/trailers as temporary dwellings during house construction where an active building permit exists. The office moved to a new location at 215 North Wall Street, has introduced Bluebeam software to improve commercial plan review, and reported the recent rollout of a geospatial/online portal for permits (electrical, plumbing, HVAC and gas); the building-permit and commercial-permit portal was described as near launch.

Workload figures cited in the report included several hundred plan reviews and a figure stated as roughly 26,100 inspections (presented as an internal count of inspections and averages for the period cited). Speaker 3 said staff completed substantial continuing education and that the department was coordinating with the city of Calhoun for training on the 2023 NEC code changes effective January 1, 2025.

Speaker 1 thanked the inspector and praised the city–county partnership before the meeting moved on to administrative items.