If you’re waiting on a permit from the city-parish’s permits and inspections division, you’re not alone. The backlog and delays that have been a constant source of frustration for a couple of years now haven’t gotten any better—despite the passage of an ordinance late last year designed to make it easier to use third party vendors to complete plan reviews and inspections in East Baton Rouge Parish.
“The issue is very problematic right now,” says Larry Bankston, director of the Baton Rouge Growth Coalition, which represents the development community.
The solution currently on the table is to contract with an outside firm to handle all the plan reviews and, possibly, inspections as well, for the city parish. Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Cary Chauvin has been working with the Growth Coalition and has reached out to several certified firms to get an idea of how much it will cost to enter into a contract. Depending on what the initial estimates show, the city will either put the contract out to bid or enter into a professional services agreement.
“What we would do is contract with an outside firm that would supplement our workforce,” Chauvin says.
That workforce is currently down several employees, which is a large part of the problem, Chauvin says. Three of five commercial plan review positions are currently unfilled and Chauvin says it has been difficult to fill them.
“We’ve advertised twice nationally and we have gotten zero applicants,” he says.
Chauvin blames low pay for the lack of interest in the positions. Plan reviewers start at $14 an hour, which, at a 40-hour work week, comes to around $30,000 a year.
Metro Councilman Ryan Heck, who sponsored the ordinance last year that was supposed to make it easier to use third-party vendors, believes money is only part of the problem.
“The problem is bureaucracy and lack of imagination,” he says. “Bureaucracy is ruling the day and we need to outsource as much as we can over there and can get some professionalism. They know there is a problem and if they can’t fix it we’re going to fix it for them.”
Chauvin says he hopes to have a contract finalized with a third-party vendor in the coming weeks, though realistically he says it might be months.
“We know this affects builders and developers,” Chauvin says. “We’re hoping to do this as soon as possible.”
—Stephanie Riegel
