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Council begins urgent planning after building official announces departure; committee to craft temporary solution
Summary
After Building Official Kelly Myers announced he will leave, councilors discussed a roughly 15-day window in which the city must have a building official or contract to continue issuing permits and inspections; options include contracting with Myers temporarily or training an internal employee and combining roles.
City officials told the council they face an urgent staffing gap after Building Official Kelly Myers said he will be leaving his positions as building official, zoning officer and wetlands contact. The council agreed the city must either have a certified official on staff or contract for the service within about 15 days to continue issuing permits and performing inspections under state law.
Mayor and Administrator Betty Bergstrom described a range of options that staff and a small committee have already explored: contracting with Mr. Myers to provide interim services while the city prepares an internal candidate to take a limited building-official license; pursuing a combined position that would add limited building-official duties to the fire marshal; or contracting with regional providers (noting geographic challenges on the Iron Range). The mayor said combining duties with the fire marshal could save taxpayer dollars long-term but raised concerns about workload and hiring rules.
Kelly Myers told the council he would be willing to help during a transition and described the certification pathway: a one-week class (Minneapolis or remote), a points-based system requiring 30 points to become limited and 100 points for full certification, and two annual class windows (June and October) that constrain timing. He cautioned that contracting firms might not provide the same on‑the‑job training that an in‑house, contract mentor would.
Administrator Bergstrom said she had spoken with a state representative in the Department of Labor and Industry who provided a list of contractors and offered to assist; she emphasized the operational consequences: “We cannot do permits. We cannot do inspections,” without an official on record.
Councilors voted to have the committee that previously met convene promptly (potentially the next morning) to craft a formal temporary proposal with costings, staffing and timelines and report back to council. The city will consider a contract with Kelly Myers, whether to offer combined duties to existing staff, or whether to advertise for an external contractor; the council did not finalize a long-term structural change at the meeting.
