NORWICH – Norwich city planner Deanna Rhodes told a weekly meeting on Friday that the city needs to hire another building manager to take over from the retiring one.
Norwich building manager Dan Coley said the city had recently hired a full-time temporary building manager, but after a 6-month trial period the new building manager informed the city that he was retiring and moving to Florida.
Rhodes said the building department hired two part-time and seasonal people to meet the demand.
“Our spring and summer season is picking up, and we have some pretty big plans on the horizon,†Rhodes said.
The problem with not having enough building officials, Coley said, is that project approvals, from large industrial buildings and apartments to installing a backyard pool, will slow things down in an environment. where entrepreneurs are increasingly busy.
“We just don’t want to find ourselves unable to maintain what our residents expect in terms of quality of service and timely inspections,†Coley said.
Rhodes said Connecticut is experiencing a shortage of official buildings statewide and she believes it would be beneficial to work with technical schools to find students in interested trades.
“Obviously they couldn’t get out of high school right away and become an official, but it could be a great stepping stone to getting some of the lower licenses,†Rhodes said.
Coley noted that in other countries, such as the UK, they begin formal code training in high school, similar to learning another trade. In the United States, building officials are typically people who have experience in other types of inspections, such as plumbing or electrical, but who are generally close to retirement.
“There aren’t a lot of young people doing that, so it would be advantageous for trade schools to offer this as a type of class,†Coley said.
In Norwich, Coley pointed out that he and Assistant Building Manager Chris Case were younger, 48 and 50, respectively, which means longer continuity of service.
Rhodes also hopes to use building officials from other cities to take over the work sooner or later for inspections and permits. Norwich, however, is not alone in expressing interest in bringing in construction officers from other cities.
Jim Butler, executive director of the Southeast Connecticut Council of Governments (SCCOG), said the organization had hired Tom Weber, a part-time building manager at Bozrah and Franklin, to work for Preston and Ledyard.
Butler said Preston First Selectman Cheryl Alan Gauthier and Ledyard Mayor and SCCOG President Fred Allyn III told him their city building officials were leaving their posts. Butler said SCCOG has been offering planning services to member cities for some time, but the idea of ​​offering a building manager has been discussed over the past decade.
“(Weber) was looking for part-time work, and the timing was right, so I quickly signed him to a contract,†Butler said.
Butler said SCCOG will use Weber’s services at least until the end of this fiscal year. If Weber wants to continue his work for SCCOG, and the arrangement works for Ledyard and Preston, Butler said official building services could be extended to other member cities. SCCOG maintains a list of building officials who may work part-time to meet this demand.
“We could have a pool available to our cities when needed,†said Butler.