Mohave County building code advisory board re-elects chair, debates virtual attendance and reviews permit system rollout

The Mohave County Building Code Advisory Board re-elected Richard Hamilton as chair and chose Mehdi as army as vice chair at its Jan. 27 meeting, while members agreed to delay any formal change to attendance rules and reviewed year-end performance for Development Services.

Staff member Scott Holte opened the recognition portion, presenting certificates to long-serving members and thanking volunteers for their service. "We really do appreciate all that you have done for the county," Holte said as certificates were read for members with multi-year service records.

On officers, Hamilton was nominated to remain chair and accepted the nomination. Following a separate nomination, Mehdi as army was elected vice chair by voice vote. The board also approved the minutes from its Nov. 18, 2025 meeting.

A lengthy discussion followed about quorum and missed meetings under the board's governing language. Chairman Richard Hamilton noted the rule that "when a board member misses 3 consecutive meetings with unexcused absences, the advisory board may recommend to the board of supervisors that the position be declared vacant," and said he was "personally unsatisfied" that one member had not attended and been met by other members. Staff reminded the board that any change to the membership rules or the resolution that governs them — County Resolution 24-075 — would need a recommendation from the advisory board and adoption by the Board of Supervisors.

Board members debated continued options for remote participation. Several members urged testing the county's televised/Teams option rather than immediate removal of remote attendance. Development Services staff cautioned that earlier call-in systems had produced poor connection and visibility, but said the newer Teams-based approach can place a participant's video on screen and may be worth piloting.

The board voted to take no action at this meeting on changing attendance rules, with staff directed to test virtual/televised participation and return the item to the agenda for reconsideration if needed.

On operations, Development Services staff reviewed year-end indicators for 2025 and recent changes to permitting and inspections. Staff reported the department and inspection crews are fully staffed, the electronic permit submittal and plan-review system is in use with "approximately 75%" of alternate/metal permits submitted electronically, and that manufactured-home and septic inspections have been reassigned to other agencies. The department said its unsafe-structure program has achieved a 61% voluntary compliance rate and has pursued roughly 22 abatement or lien actions where voluntary compliance did not occur.

Staff also described a scheduling issue in the inspection portal that has prevented booking inspections after Friday at 05:00, shifting many inspections from Monday to Tuesday. "We've got a glitch in the program," staff said. "We're working on it with the program company." As an example, staff said there were about 18 inspections logged on a recent Monday and 88 on the following Tuesday. IT work with the vendor is underway to restore weekend/early-week scheduling.

Board members and contractors who spoke praised the inspection team and the new electronic submittal system while noting early frustrations during rollout. One member said the system reduces submittal time and "has major advantages" once remaining bugs are fixed; staff encouraged applicants to use counter submittals for certain revisions to accelerate turnaround.

By voice vote the board set its next meeting for April 21, 2026, and adjourned the session.

Votes at a glance: the board approved the Nov. 18, 2025 minutes (voice vote), elected Richard Hamilton as chair and Mehdi as army as vice chair (voice votes), voted to take no action on amending attendance rules (motion passed), and set the next meeting for April 21, 2026 (voice vote).