CITY INSPECTION SERVICES SUPERVISOR HOPES CHANGES WILL IMPROVE PROCESS

Rick Murray, supervisor of Cape Girardeau's Inspection Services Department, says he hopes recent changes in how the office handles building inspections and permits will quell past criticism of the department.

Murray started his job here Aug. 19 after working 18 years in a similar position at Ames, Iowa. Since then he has established new goals and procedures for the department with a renewed emphasis on community relations.

"What we're trying to do here is perform a balancing act between being a police or enforcement agency and a public servant," Murray said.

"We try to protect the citizens through our efforts, but at the same time we have to be forthright and sensitive with the people we work with the contractors."

The city's planning and inspections department early this year came under fire from a number of contractors, architects and developers who complained that the building permit and inspection process took too long, inhibiting development in Cape Girardeau.

But Murray said Tuesday that the inspection staff now is operating much more efficiently than it did even a few months ago.

One of the first changes Murray instituted was to seclude chief inspector Charles Hoppe, who conducts all the department's plan reviews.

Plan reviews involve a checklist of 11 items applicable to the building plans. If all the items check out, the permit is issued.

Murray said Hoppe now has an office that's away from telephone and office interruptions that delay the plan review process.

"One of the biggest complaints has been the time it takes to get a plan reviewed and returned," Murray said. "Charles was always getting interrupted.

"Now I work in the office and handle all the counter traffic and field the phone calls that he used to. I think that alone has helped the efficiency as much as anything."

Murray also said other building inspectors now are involved in the plan review process in areas that apply to their respective fields of expertise, which improves the overall efficiency of the process.

"I think these changes have really helped," he said. "We're now up to date on plan reviews; we're all caught up."

Murray said that when he started work in August the office was 15 weeks behind in plan reviews.

"Probably 50 percent of that can be attributed to the fact that our permits have dropped off as we're getting out of the construction season," he said.

One way the department hopes to gauge public reaction to its attempts to improve the process is through surveys, which soon will be available at City Hall. The surveys include questions related to past complaints about the department.

A subsequent comprehensive survey in June will be mailed to contractors and citizens and will include much more detailed questions, Murray said.

"There will also be an optional area for people to fill in their name or company name," he said. "We feel like that validates what they're telling us.

"If they're willing to put their name down, it adds validity to their concern, and if they don't then follow up is impossible."

Murray said the department also will issue a newsletter once very two months to various contractors. He said the newsletter informs the contractors of various changes in national building codes or other inspection procedures and allows the contractors to respond to the city.

"I'd like to see this become an additional way to exchange information," he said. "The more these guys are educated, the more our job is easier. With enforcement comes a responsibility for education."

Murray said he hopes the changes are an improvement and that they will help build public confidence and support.

He said a new trades licensing law passed that requires virtually all contractors to be licensed also will help foster better communication between the city and contractors.

"Right now we're getting maybe 60 percent of the work out there permitted," he said. "Once we get this list (of licensed contractors), we'll be able to do a lot better job of enforcement, because we'll know who's on the job.

"More importantly, we'll have a complete list of all the contractors out there so we will be able to get them this information."