Carson City board to consider building permit contract

A contract that outsourced Carson City building permit services is up for review at the Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday.

City staff is recommending supervisors renew the contract with Charles Abbott Associates, Inc. subject to board review in one year.

The contractor provides a full-time building official, building inspector, and permit counter technician, and other staff as needed, and uses their own vehicles for inspections and other equipment needed for building permit functions.

In return, CAA is paid a percent of building permit fees varying from 60 to 70 percent.

In the 2015-16 fiscal year those fees amounted to $677,892 and in April CAA donated $41,883 to the city to implement an electronic plan submittal and plan review system.

The initial contract was approved in 2014 and came after a drop in building permits, which have now begun to pick up.

In 2015-16, building permit valuations, which fees are based on, hit about $75 million, the highest since 2006-07.

The board will also interview applicants for a spot on the Planning Commission vacated by the recent resignation of Victor Castro.

The board will interview Janice McCauley, Alex Baca, Deborah Hayward, Michael Alvarez, Casey Otto and Brandon Robinson.

But the board recently interviewed four other applicants before it reappointed Mark Sattler who are also being considered for the vacancy.

The board will appoint one of its members to the Board of Directors of Nevada League of Cities & Municipalities, which the city recently rejoined.

In other actions, the supervisors will vote to approve a purchase of crack sealant from Maxwell Products, Inc., the sole source, for an annual amount not to exceed $140,000; a contract not to exceed $500,000 with the city’s major IT suppliers; accept the Work Program and conservation easements on four parcels recommended by the Open Space Advisory Committee; and adopt a resolution to approve the Carson City Hazard Mitigation Plan, which must be updated every five years in order for the city to be eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster funds.

The Board of Supervisors meets at 8:30 a.m. in the Sierra Room, Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.