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Council directs staff to issue RFP after county ends building and safety agreement
Summary
With Los Angeles County set to end its decades‑long contract, Lawndale council authorized staff to issue an RFP for third‑party building and safety services and discussed possible long‑term in‑house staffing.
City staff told the council that Los Angeles County intends to end the county’s long‑standing contract to provide Lawndale’s building and safety services effective July 1, 2026. Staff said the county has provided those services since the 1960s and recommended the city issue a request for proposals (RFP) to contract with private engineering firms to provide building‑inspection and plan‑review services.
Staff outlined the department’s current functions: a building inspector performing about eight inspections per day, a civil engineer reviewing residential and commercial plans, and a building official providing day‑to‑day support. The tentative schedule presented calls for an RFP by December 2025, RFP review in January 2026 and a bid to be returned to council in February 2026.
Council members discussed whether to hire a full‑time in‑house staffer in the future and to contact the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (COG) to explore firm referrals or shared services. A staff speaker said hiring in‑house staff would add costs and that contracting will likely remain necessary to cover specialized reviews (soils, structural engineering), but that a third‑party firm could speed plan checks.
The council voted unanimously to authorize staff to proceed with the RFP process and to adopt staff’s proposed service‑hour baseline for the RFP (approximately eight inspections per day and 10–12 hours of civil‑engineering time), while directing staff to report back as procurement progresses.
