Friendly
neighborhood police officers are a popular sight nationwide, and now
Somerville, Mass., is taking that successful idea and applying it to a very
different community service: the building permit process. The City of
Somerville’s Inspectional Services Division is phasing in a new assignment
process for building permits, dedicating each of its three building inspectors
to specific city wards, which will allow those inspectors to follow a permit
from the moment it is issued to completion.
Under the previous
model, different inspectors could perform inspections for the same building.
Under the new assignment model, homeowners, business owners and contractors
will have the consistency of a single inspector from start to finish, who will
also address any complaints received about a specific building. Another
inspector will handle the majority of complaints that address zoning issues.
The
introduction of individual inspection areas for each building inspector is one
of the recommendations made in the 2010 independent report by Zucker Systems,
commissioned by Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone as one of the steps towards reforming
Inspectional Services.
“Inspectional
services are core customer services that protect our neighborhoods and our
quality of life,” Mayor Curtatone said. “With our new Superintendent of
Inspectional Services Goran Smiljic leading the department into the 21st
century, we are well on our way in acting upon the recommendations in the
Zucker report. Assigning inspectors by ward is just one of a number of steps we
are taking to make Inspectional Services more efficient, accessible and
friendly, and to ensure that the City responds promptly and decisively to
issues.”
Other steps
being taken include the addition of a new inspector and two new clerks, improved
public office hours, and new, easy-to-use online permitting, which will launch
soon. Once hired, the new code enforcement inspector will be assigned to
address rodent control and public sanitation issues citywide. Inspectional
Services also recently added two new clerks to provide additional customer
service assistance, more efficient internal processing and administrative
support for the increasing number of City permits, licenses and inspections.
Meanwhile,
new Inspectional Services office hours that began on July 1 align better with
both contractors’ work schedules and resident needs, with the office open
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday from 8 a.m. to 7
p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to noon. The new online permitting process will be
instituted soon.
“Our number
one goal is to make Inspectional Services accessible and customer friendly.
Assigning inspectors to specific wards helps those who pull building permits
have a consistent, efficient experience working with the City, and helps our
inspectors become familiar with the people and buildings they are working
with,” Superintendent Smiljic said. “Our new office hours also make it easier
to talk with someone immediately, when homeowners and contractors need to,
instead of back and forth phone calls. I look forward to continuing the reform
of Inspectional Services, which faces a growing workload, working harder and
smarter, and improving the customer service for everyone who comes to our
office.”
Under the new
ward-based model, one inspector will be assigned to Wards 1 and 2, another for
Wards 3-5, and another to Wards 6 and 7. Inspections for building permits
already in process will continue under the previous model, but as new building
permit applications are submitted to Inspectional Services, they will be
assigned under the new ward-based assignment process.
No comments:
Post a Comment