By PETER HUSSMANN
Members of the city's recently-created Building Trades Board have yet to be appointed but they'll likely soon be tasked with helping the city gain greater compliance on building permit requirements.
Newton City Administrator Tom Wardlow suggested gaining the new board's input on the compliance issue in response to council member Steve Mullan's recent question on building permit enforcement and public information efforts.
In a report to council, Wardlow noted that certain types of building projects in the city get 100 percent compliance. Electric service panel work, he noted, receives 100 percent compliance because Alliant Energy will not turn on the power unless the city sign's off on code conformation. New building construction also receives 100 percent compliance, he said.
Wardlow said city building officials monitor construction activity across town during the course of their daily inspection activity. When small projects are found, like the construction of a new deck, the homeowner is given a notice on the need for a building permit. When contractors are found to have started a project without a permit, they are required to get a permit and charged a double fee as allowed by the Uniform Building Code.
Other types of projects are more difficult to monitor, he said, especially internal plumbing, wiring and remodeling work.
"It is difficult to quantify how much work that requires a permit does not get a permit," Wardlow wrote in his report to council.
The city administrator suggested that city officials could monitor "One Call" requests.
"The Engineering Division receives these requests from the 'call before you dig' service and then goes and marks sewer line locations," Wardlow wrote. "Some of these do not have relevance to building permitting (e.g. planting a tree), but there may be times where they do indicate building activity that does not have a permit."
Wardlow suggested the recently-created Building Trades Board be asked to look into the compliance matter. The new five-member board replaces the Building Board of Appeals, the Electrical Board and the Plumbers Examining Board.
"They may have more insight (about themselves or their peers) and may have ideas as to how to increase compliance," Wardlow wrote. "They can be a good resource to tell us what we are missing and give guidance as to how to educate contractors about permitting requirements."
