Wilson County approves department budgets, forwards deputy building official request to budget committee

Wilson County Chair opened the meeting on April 16 and the commission approved status-quo budgets for the building codes, planning and zoning departments while accepting five-year outlooks from staff.

The building codes representative asked the commission to move the building codes budget to the beginning of the agenda and presented an unchanged (status-quo) budget with minor line-item adjustments. "What we do, the things in the redder is kind of what we moved around a little bit," the building codes official said while explaining consultant and travel reallocations. The commission approved the status-quo budget by voice vote.

The building codes official also asked the commission to create a deputy building official position to serve as a plans reviewer and a field inspector when needed, citing recent increases from commercial work and online permitting. "A position title is, deputy billing official," the building codes representative stated when describing the requested role. Commissioners made and seconded a motion to accept the request and forward it to the budget committee for detailed funding and job specification review.

Planning staff presented a separate status-quo planning budget and a five-year outlook that included projected aerial imagery purchases (estimated at about $100,000 per flight), a possible $20,000 contingency for the land-use plan if timelines extend, and options for a consultant-led zoning-ordinance update (rough estimate $100,000) or doing the work in-house. Planning staff noted possible future hires: a planner with a base salary estimate of about $60,000 and a GIS assistant with a base salary estimate near $55,000, excluding benefits. The commission accepted the planning status-quo budget and asked staff to return with formal proposals and any overlap funding needed for transitions.

Zoning staff reported they currently operate with three employees and proposed a five-year staffing plan, including a chief zoning technician and an additional zoning inspector to handle re-inspections and compliance checks. The staff noted the administrative burden for zoning compliance certificates (researching plats and deeds) and recommended the commission consider a fee study to recover some costs. "We don't charge a fee at present," zoning staff said about zoning compliance certificates; the commission asked staff to research comparable counties and return with recommendations.

Next steps: the commission forwarded the deputy building official request to the budget committee and asked planning and zoning staff to produce formal staffing proposals and fee studies with clear cost estimates and recommended timelines.