REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: JENNIFER K. CLARK, AICP, Director
Planning and Development Department
BY: CHARLES CLARK, Building Services Manager
Planning and Development Department
SUBJECT
Title
Actions pertaining to as needed plan checking and inspection services:
1. Approve a consultant services agreement with Interwest Consulting Group, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $100,000; and
2. Approve a consultant services agreement with CSG Consultants, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $100,000.
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends approval.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Building and Safety Services Division (Division) of the Planning and Development Department has seen a continued increase of building permit applications and inspections as well as intermittent staff attrition. In order to efficiently process the increasing number of applications within acceptable timeframes, the Division has utilized the assistance of professional plan checking agencies. Staff executed a new solicitation for consultants to ensure the City of Fresno (City) is being provided the best value, while increasing the capacity of the Division, to include Certified Access Specialist (CASp) review and inspection. The City is required to employ or retain a sufficient number of CASps, with at least one-half of the CASps employed or retained being building inspectors. Currently the City does not meet this requirement. Staff recommend approving consultant agreements with both Interwest Consulting Group (Interwest) and CSG Consultants (CSG) in the amount not to exceed $100,000 each to provide these services.
BACKGROUND
The Planning and Development Department has successfully utilized the assistance of on-call plan checking consultants to support the Division's workforce in times of high employee attrition or high application volumes.
The Building Division of the Planning and Development Department historically issues on average 30-40 permits daily. Depending on the project, th...
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