Agenda Item Name:
Title
Request for new 1.00 FTE Plans Examiner for the Growth Management Department
End
Presenter:
Missy Daniels
Description:
This request is to add a new 1.00 FTE Plans Examiner for building permit plan reviews, which would bring the total to three plans examiners.
Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approve the request for a new 1.00 FTE Plans Examiner in the Building Division of Growth Management.
End
Prior Board Motions:
N/A
Fiscal Consideration:
Fiscal Consideration
The Plans examiner positions are fully funded out of the enterprise fund for building permitting functions and there is adequate budget for a new 1.00 FTE. This fund receives its revenue from building permits. No general fund revenue is spent for these positions. For this 1.00 FTE, we will recruit the full range for all levels.
Plans Examiner I : $21.1438 to $32.8447 hourly rate; $43,979.10 to $68,316.98 annual rate or Plans Examiner II: $22.2645 to $34.5855 hourly rate; $46,310.16 to $71,937.84 annual rate or Plans Examiner III: $23.4447 to $36.4186 hourly rate; $48,764.98 to $75,750.69 annual rate or Plans Examiner IV: $25.9957 to $40.3814 hourly rate; $54,071.06 to $83,993.31 annual rate.
End
Background:
Review of Building Plans by a licensed Plans Examiner is required by State Statute and the Florida Building Code. We currently have two full-time plans examiners and use a third party reviewer.
468.604Responsibilities of building code administrators, plans examiners, and inspectors.-
(3) It is the responsibility of the plans examiner to conduct review of construction plans submitted in the permit application to assure compliance with the Florida Building Code and any applicable local technical amendment to the Florida Building Code. The review of construction plans must be done by the building code administrator or building official or by a person licensed in the appropriate plans examiner category as defined in s. 468.603 <http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0400-0499/0468/Sections/0468.603.html>. The plans examiner’s responsibilities must be performed under the supervision and authority of the building code administrator or building official without interference from any unlicensed person.
Florida Statutes requires varying turnaround times for review of specific permits. For example, a building permit for a single-family residential dwelling must be issued within 30 working days of application therefor unless unusual circumstances require a longer time for processing the application or unless the permit application fails to satisfy the Florida Building Code or the enforcing agency’s laws or ordinances. We have received 823 permits requiring plan review from 12/1/20 - 2/28/21, of which 242 were single-family homes. We have been using our contracted third party reviewer to help meet this demand.
Contracted Plans Review/Third Party Reviewer
For the past few years as building permitting has picked up we have been outsourcing some of our plans review in order to meet the statutory time frames and meet customer service expectations. Turnaround time on plans review is a primary concern of the building community. The plans examiners are working overtime and we are sending plans out for review. Even with the third party help, those plans have to be processed by our in-house plans examiners to issue the permits. Given the current building climate, three people could be employed full time and be fully engaged. Since October 2020 through February 12, 2021 (latest invoice), we have been invoiced for approximately $34,425.00 from our third party and spent approximately $7,000 in overtime for one of our plans examiners. We also currently use one of our plans examiners as a commercial inspector when the need arises, as he is one of only a couple qualified for commercial building inspections.