The city for 31 years has had a contract electrical inspector.  Cities can either contract the service out through an independent contractor or through the State of Minnesota or hire their own inspector.  If the State does the work, they keep one hundred percent of all permit and inspection fees.

Given the volume of permits and the need for inspections and follow up, it is proposed to hire this position as a city employee under the Building Official. The position requirements are set by the State of Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.  There is a Minnesota trend to use local and base fees at the city level.  This will allow for a higher level of customer service with additional oversight.

The city will also have this individual take State of Minnesota Licensing Test for Building Official - Limited.  This would allow this inspector to also save customer's time by doing one inspection for items like an electrical hot water heater or furnace.

Neutral since the city would now be collecting one hundred percent of the electrical permit fees and also aligning those fees with similar cities.

The city for the past two years has collected an average of $108,000 per year for electrical permits. Staff is proposing a modifying of the permits to include a plan review fee that should stabilize this revenue and also increase it over time, which will cover the cost of this position along with greater review.

Building permit revenue has historically exceed budgeted revenues because of the size of our recent projects.