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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-11-17 Minutes New Hanover County Inspections Department Advisory Council (IDAC) Meeting Notice and Proposed Agenda Regular Meeting of 2021 Wednesday, November 17 th, 2021, at 3:00 PM New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center Drive HR Training Rooms A & B Presiding: Chairperson Dave Smith I. WELCOME COMMENTS & ESTABLISHMENT OF QUORUM-Dave Smith 1) Dave Smith established a Quorum. II. INTRODUCTIONS (FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC)-Nicholas Gadzekpo 1) It was established everyone knew each other, and introductions were not necessary. III. Public Comment/Forum Questions Nicholas Gadzekpo 1) The public submitted no questions or comments. IV. ACTION ITEMS Dave Smith 1) Approval of Minutes March 4, 2020, and August 25, 2021 a) Pete Avery motioned to approve the minutes. b) Rob Zapple seconded to approve the minutes. c) All were in favor. d) Motion approved, and everyone accepted the minutes. 2) Appointment/Voting for Vice-Chair a) The last meeting was not a Quorum, so a Vice-Chair was not invited. b) Dave discussed the position with Pete, and he was willing to accept it. c) Dave asked if anyone else would like to put their name in the hat for Vice-Chair. i) No one came forward. d) It was established that Pete would be Vice-Chair. 3) Establishing Date of Next Meeting in 2022. a) The next meeting is set for Wednesday, February 16, 2022, at 3:00 pm. 4) Proposal to help customers with expired permits. a) Nicholas Gadzekpo took the lead in explaining the proposal. i) Several discussions took place before the proposal was created. ii) Customers have had issues with expired permits and the brand-new fees they had to pay for a replacement permit. iii) Per the General Statues and Codes, the permit expires if a permit is issued and work has not commenced after six months. Also, with the construction, if there is a one-year lapse between inspections, the permit is no longer valid and expires. iv) Nicholas explained information about the laws and the governor's information regarding an extension of permits. v) Due to the budget season ahead, the proposal is coming out, and something needs to be done with the fees. vi) A good happy medium is to have the permit holder secure a new permit, and instead of charging a full blow permit fee, we can charge the minimum service fee. vii) For commercial, the new minimum service fee is $75.00, and for residential, the new service fee is $60.00. viii) Those are the minimum fees we can charge for the permit replacement, and it takes staff time to transfer the information to the new one. ix) Nicholas is bringing the proposal forward to get approval. He explained if we don't do it and the permit cycle closes, the fees will remain where they are, and people will be charged full-blown permit fees for a permit replacement even if one day over the expired date. x) Pete asked how many cases we had. (1) Nicholas followed up with that he could not give an exact number. xi) Dave asked for clarification if it was just the fees. xii) Rob asked if there were any cases like this. (1) Nicholas confirmed there were cases, and he counted about a dozen. xiii) Cameron explained what the contractors would be facing in the future and the delays. (1) Cameron discussed a scenario that will allow for flexibility. (2) He also explained building requirements and information regarding the state and interpretations. xiv) Hans informed that permits could be extended before they expire, and the key is to do some work and get it inspected even though it may fail. He explained what a large developer does regarding planning permits. (1) The group discussed the information individually. xv) Edward asked if a permit could be extended if an applicant submitted a permit extension explaining that the material had not been delivered as anticipated. (1) Nicholas and Hans that work was not being done, and this proposal is about. xvi) Nicholas asked for a vote on it and support for the proposal. (1) Pete made a motion to support it. (2) Dave seconded it. (3) All were in favor. (4) Motion approved, and Dave stated that Nicholas has their support. V. ANY INFORMATIONAL UPDATES TO SHARE? 1) What's new from CFPUA? (5 minutes)-Jeff Theberge a) Jeff did not have anything new to share since the last meeting. b) He gave an update on the fast-track permits. i) He has seen the overall CFPUA reviews decline for the fast-track permits. (1) It was a good improvement, and he will continue to see the reviews decline. c) Nicholas asked about recruiting. i) Jeff updated on the new positions, and they are fully staffed. d) Hans explained to Jeff about using Initial Review Complete and the workflow not advancing and getting stuck, and the permitting staff does not know when it is complete. i) Hans explained that they needed to go back in and approve it. So he ran a report that morning, and there are about 150 in the past six months. ii) Jeff asked for clarification that if the fees are paid for that initial review, the plan reviewers are not going back in and approving. So he will make it a point to try and clear it up. iii) Nicholas asked Teresa if that is what she sees as well. (1) She confirmed and explained that they do not want the workflow to progress to approval because they could mess up and issue it or have it paid before it is ready. That is why they have that status, and she sees a few like that. Now and then, Jeff and them cannot approve it yet but need a revision, and they will reach out to Bernice or David and ask to change to Resubmit so they can accept the revision. (a) Hans explained that the problem is if they reach out to CFPUA, and they are asked to result it as a Resubmit Required, it is going to set it up for everyone will need to look at it again do not need to. Hans informed of the more appropriate action, and Jeff will take care of it that way. 2) COAST/EnerGov Updates and progress? -Teresa McCormick / IT statements a) Teresa explained the ongoing issue is with the online portal and trade contractors having an issue applying for trades. They get an error message and know what is causing it, and we know how to tell them to correct it. i) That will be corrected in a Coast upgrade, and they are trying to test and get the upgrade in place now. So there has been some holdup with Tyler. b) Some building contractors' heartburn with Coast is the list of permits is forever. They did go in there and change a few settings and ran a couple of scripts. When there was a CO, the system kept it on their active list, and now those permits are moved from their active list. i) She double-checked with Angela and Heather from Herrington, and theirs is much better. c) Rob had a follow-up question to explain the issues the sub-contractors were not able to do. i) Teresa explained the issue and how the error occurred. (1) Rob asked if it had been forwarded to Tyler and if there was a response. (a) She confirmed it was a system bug, and it has been sent to Tyler. They will need to upgrade the portal. (b) She and Paige have tested the upgrade in the test portal and explained the configurations. (2) Pete asked if an upgrade was expensive or part of their contract. (a) Teresa deferred to IT or Tim Burgess; she didn't think they cost them anything, but she did not know. (b) Tim did not know, but money was not the issue; it was Tyler's responsibility. So they continue to push them, schedule meetings and explain how customers are being impacted. He shared the frustration and had a back and discussion back and forth with Pete. 3) Updates from Ad Hoc/Building Code Council? (5 minutes) Dave Smith a) Dave stated that most of the Ad Hoc committees had been formed, and several have been meeting. b) He said everything needs to be submitted to the Building Code Council by December 2022. So the second Tuesday of December is the date he thinks is the final date all of the work has to be in front of the Council. c) He explained the process and dates of future deadlines. i) Hopefully, the date the codebooks will be ready for everyone to use will be January 1, 2025. ii) He explained the process and possible dates after the codebooks review and transition periods. d) Cameron asked if there are opportunities if some members involved have items of concern to them regarding issues. i) Dave informed him that now would be the best time to submit the issues. e) Rob stated he is on the Energy Committee, too, and if anyone has questions or comments about the energy code, they are in the middle of doing the review right now. He offered his help to anyone that needed it. f) Dave explained that when the codebook gets accepted, they will view the changes online at the NCDOI website. He followed up that changes can be made during the December of 2022-March of 2022. g) Rob informed everyone that by chance, they have two people on the Building Code Council. For a community, our size is pretty incredible. They have a mainline into the current discussions, and this is their opportunity. i) Dave followed up with that now is the time to make a change and speak up. h) Jay Stokley Jr. informed everyone he is on the Existing Building Ad Hoc Committee, and they have been meeting all along. He said they were doing many revisions in that code and echoed what Dave explained. i) Dave asked if they change something in the existing building code, if it will affect the residential code and if they look at that to ad if so, will he let them know. (1) Jay explained it is more in the building code versus the residential code and that they are very conscious of changes that they make that would affect the building code, and anything that they do does go to them. i) Dave discussed with Rob that he was unsure when he would see the minutes for the residential code to be and when they would be made public. However, he does not see why the inspections department should not have access to them, and he will bring that up. At some point, each of the committees minutes is finalized and sent to NCDOI. j) Rob touched on some of the points Jay brought up, and he thinks there should be some cross-discussion between the committees. i) Jay was not at the last meeting, but he thinks something has been said about it, and it is an item that they are aware of, but he is not sure of its status. ii) Rob will push the issue at the next energy meeting to make sure the communication is there and that the minutes should at least be flowing over to Jay's committee and to building inspections departments across the state. Again, something important here may make a huge difference in the western part of the state. k) Dave and Jay discussed communicating via email on the various issues. VI. ADJOURNMENT 4:30 PM or Earlier 1) Pete motioned to adjourn. 2) Dave seconded the motion. 3) All were in favor. 4) Motion approved, and the meeting was adjourned.