Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Planning And Permitting topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parish weighs month‑to‑month extension of permitting contract while staff compares vendors
Summary
Council reviewed competing proposals for permitting and inspection services (current provider IBTS versus Rapides Area Planning). Members discussed fees, a potential part‑time permit tech in parish, software compatibility, and whether to extend the current contract month‑to‑month while collecting comparable proposals or issue an RFP.
The council reviewed the parish's permitting and inspections operations and heard competing presentations from the current provider (IBTS) and Rapides Area Planning Commission. IBTS said it provides software, a credit‑card payment system, permit processing and inspection services and that the parish has previously received refunds when revenue exceeded a threshold. Rapides said it would favor lower fees for mobile‑home permits, proposed a part‑time permit tech located locally, and produced a quarter‑by‑quarter comparison that showed small differences in aggregate fees. "Out of about 80 permits... the total fees generated were about 52,000. The parish fees were 30,000 of that," a Rapides presenter said, noting differences come down to fee philosophy for certain permit types.
Council members discussed contract notice periods (IBTS's contract included a 90‑day notice clause), the option of extending the current contract month‑to‑month to permit comparison and the alternative of issuing an RFP that would require precise apples‑to‑apples fee schedules for bidders. Multiple members asked staff for a financial impact review and recommended bringing comparative spreadsheets and proposed contract amendment language to the next council meeting before a contract decision.
