Development Services Review. Final Report. Zucker July 2016

recommendations contained in this report. It is our belief that the cost of retaining these services has already been factored into the current permit fee schedule.

34. Recommendation: The Building Official should utilize the services of a qualified outside plan review consultant to help insure plan review turnaround times are achieved, and contract inspectors to make next day inspections. Building Staff Technical Qualifications Critical to the effective enforcement of construction codes is staff’s overall technical knowledge of plan review and inspection practices. The City of Morgan Hill utilizes the practice of employing inspection staff to perform combination inspections. The practice involves assigning inspectors to perform a variety of inspection types such as building, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, energy and accessibility inspections. In many larger jurisdictions inspectors perform these types of inspections with specialties in only one or two of these disciplines. This specialist approach is typically used in the inspection of commercial projects that tend to be more complex and deserving of a higher level of expertise. While these larger jurisdictions employ specialists for commercial work, many utilize a combination inspector approach for residential projects. We support the concept of using qualified combination inspectors for residential and minor commercial construction projects. The City of Morgan Hill currently employs both full-time and part-time Inspectors to perform combination inspections on both commercial and residential projects. A review of the job description for the Building Inspector II position clearly states that employees in that classification shall possess ICC Certification as a Combination Inspector. During our on-site interviews it became apparent that not all of the Inspectors performing combination inspections have obtained such certification. We encourage the Building Official to establish and implement a plan that will bring all staff assigned to perform combination inspections into alignment with their job description. The Building Official should instruct the Building Inspector Supervisor to evaluate the need to adjust daily inspection assignments in order to ensure that complex projects are assigned to individuals who have demonstrated the ability to perform such work. In pursuing such a program, it is important that the City actively participate by continuing to authorize and reimburse staff for the costs of obtaining the appropriate training and periodic certification renewals (every three years).

35. Recommendation : Inspection staff assigned to perform combination inspections should obtain ICC Certification as a Combination Inspector.

Morgan Hill, California

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