Building Services

Overview of Program & Intended Outcomes:

Building Services establishes minimum requirements to safeguard public health, safety, general welfare, and the environment through the effective application of city building codes, which determine standards for how buildings may be built, modified, occupied, and maintained. Plan review and inspection services include verification of code compliance for structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and energy conservation components of buildings. Building Services coordinates with other city divisions to develop code amendments to meet Boulder’s Climate Commitment goals and collaborates with customers to gather feedback and ensure construction codes and regulations are well understood.

For 2023, P&DS Department recommended an FTE increase for a Building Code Compliance Senior Examiner position which would be responsible for performing technical review of building construction applications to ensure accuracy and compliance with applicable building codes, ordinances, zoning regulations, and national standards that protects public health, safety, and welfare. The FTE increase will bring the total number of Building Code Examiners to four. Current service standards for these reviews are that smaller project reviews are completed within three weeks and larger reviews are completed within six weeks, however, these standards are not being met due to the high volume of permit applications. The additional position will result in decreased customer waiting times, more predictable and reliable services while also providing for capacity to support staff development and staff leave time. Given the volume of permit applications that the division is required to process, we are routinely not meeting the adopted service standards and the processing time is not predictable for the customer. Also, given work load, small set back such as employee leave, training or vacancies have a immediate adverse impacts to the ability to meet service standards. The review workload has held steady at current rates for more than 5 years and this staffing request is expected to address the same level of review cases in the future.

The current measured outcome for building plans review is percent of plan reviews completed within the service standards of 3/6 weeks. In 2021 nearly 52% of the reviews did not meet the service standards, while the trend is heading to even fewer reviews meeting this standard in 2022. Our inability to meet service standards or provide a predictable review time causes delays to construction projects. These delays result in project owners incurring additional expenses for increased project times, loosing contractors and sub-contractors who schedule their work far in advance and cannot accommodate our delays and increased frustration with the process. These frustrations can also result in more work being completed without permits, increasing code compliance workload and potentially allowing projects that do not meet our regulations that protect public health, safety and welfare. This position is fee supported and will be funded within the P&DS Fund.

Additionally, the P&DS Department recommended an FTE increase to in-person reception and navigation services five days a week to the community and customers of the Customer Service Hub, serving the Planning and Development Services and Housing and Human Services departments. This role will provide a human connection, listening and engaging positively and professionally with those who prefer to interact with staff on an in-person basis or who are unsure how to utilize virtual services. This role will triage questions regarding HHS assistance programs and connect customers to appropriate P&DS staff members or processes, help navigate virtual services, and help customers submit inquiries or schedule appointments, as well as assist with HHS Homeownership program document drop off, and application and material pick up for Homeownership, Eviction Prevention and Rental Assistance Services, and Food Tax Rebate programs. They will also assist customers in using a secure workstation that connects to the P&DS Customer Self Service Portal where customers can check permit status and inspection results and make secure payments. For our work to be more connected to the community we serve and to offer an excellent customer experience, it is important that we provide an option for the community and customers to engage with professional and welcoming staff in an interactive and accessible manner. This service will complement the virtual services provided by the departments that have been developed through customer engagement feedback to provide streamlined, efficient and predictable services. Offering in-person reception services at this new shared center will also allow the city to track community interest and engagement and ultimately use data-driven decisions to inform a future customer service hub at Alpine Balsam, to be developed in the coming years.

Between March 2020 and May 2022, HHS was able to provide services virtually with high customer satisfaction. However, as HHS serves lower income populations and people who have not traditionally had equitable access to technology, there has been a desire to return some of the interview-intensive programs to an in-person experience. Mediation services, for example, have been held virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to be offered in a hybrid format in the future. HHS desires to have personnel who can respond to the needs of people who cannot access virtual services. HHS has no current staff, outside of those who maintain the front desk at the Age Well – West Center, who perform reception, triage, or concierge services for walk-in customers. In addition, the Customer Service Hub will be staffed with a minimum level of departmental staff, making the need for reception and navigation services critical.

In May 2022, P&DS and HHS launched a new customer service hub in the city’s New Britain building, 1101 Arapahoe, hired and trained a temporary employee to provide reception and navigation services, and began tracking the number and types of walk-in customers received. The departments will continue to monitor and evaluate the customer need and impact to virtual services in order to inform the number and types of resources that may be needed on-site to meet the changing needs of the community. It is anticipated, however, that this single FTE will be enough to provide the reception and navigation services for both departments in 2023.

2023 Activities:

• An update to the Energy Conservation Code is intended to be completed in 2023 within this division and in partnership with Climate Initiatives.
• The addition of a Building Plans Examiner an in-person reception position will support the review of building construction applications and customer inquiries.