MOOSE JAW — City hall has signed a three-year agreement with Professional Building Inspections Inc. (PBI) to provide as-needed project plan reviews and inspection services to ensure continuity when municipal building officials are absent.
Since 1999, the city has contracted plan review and building inspection services from private service providers to supplement its in-house resources, a city council report said. This year, city hall issued a request for proposals for the continued provision of these services and awarded a contract to PBI.
Under the new agreement, PBI will supply qualified and licensed building officials across all classification levels to supplement the municipality’s own officials, the report continued. Building officials are required because the provincial Construction Codes Act says every local authority must appoint such people to administer and enforce the Act within the municipality.
Therefore, council’s approval is required to formally appoint individuals whom PBI has designated to perform these duties for the city.
City hall budgets $10,000 annually for as-needed plan reviews and inspection services to help supplement its in-house officials, so it will fund this contract through the operating budget, the report said. This amount will not require an additional mill rate increase “at this time.”
During the Aug. 25 regular meeting, council voted unanimously to appoint — as PBI recommended — Bobby Baker, Virginia Shepley, Joshua Nitz, Cristin Korchinski, David Kindred, John Dulle, Charles Fiss and Chantel Terry as building officials for the city as per the Construction Codes Act.
Furthermore, these appointments will be effective for as long as PBI endorses these people as building officials and for the duration of the company’s contract with the municipality.
The classification of each person includes class 3 for Baker, Shepley and Nitz; restricted class 2 for Korchinski; and class 1 for Kindred, Dulle, Fiss and Terry.
The report noted that the agreement gives the city access to licensed officials across all classes and enables it to maintain service levels during staff absences or peak workloads and address specialized and complex projects that require higher-class officials.
Moreover, the contract ensures timely plan reviews for compliance with the Act and the city’s building bylaw and allows PBI to conduct on-site inspections, prepare permit documents, consult with designers/builders and represent the city at appeal board hearings.
Most of the city’s inspection requests are for residential projects, which the municipality’s class 1 building officials can handle, the report added. However, class 2 and 3 officials must handle commercial, industrial and multi-unit residential projects.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Sept. 8.
