CITY OF CAPE WORKS TO IMPROVE BUILDING PERMIT PROCESS

The city of Cape Girardeau will change the way it oversees construction through a shift aimed at speeding up the process and making it more "customer friendly."

We feel this is a positive step, and we applaud City Manager J. Ronald Fischer for taking the issue in hand.

The city is responding to concerns voiced by a special committee of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce about building permits and construction codes. The group formed after area developers and contractors complained about the city's inspection and planning services department. The chamber helped turn complaints into constructive criticism - and that lead to positive change.

The city's planning services coordinator, Ken Eftink, will be given greater responsibilities to facilitate the permit process. He will address specific concerns about inefficient and meddlesome permit and code enforcement policies. He will also be responsible for monitoring city inspection procedures to make certain the process is "reasonable."

Fischer has pledged this won't be another layer of bureaucracy. That's good to hear. Government has the best success when it's able to cut through the layers of bureaucracy and offer better consumer-oriented services.

Of great concern to many businessmen is that heavy-handed inspections and permits would scare off potential development. Although most of the businessmen favor strong codes, they want common sense to guide code enforcement. Delays and additional red tape involve costs that affect consumers down the line - from the contractor to the person paying the bill.

This new chamber committee has pledged its continued support. Harry Rediger, chairman of the chamber board of directors, said the special committee will be "put on call" to monitor the effectiveness of these new procedures. Their continued interest as a watchdog should keep the system in check. We understand the chamber's concern. Cape Girardeau has been fortunate in the level of new construction projects of late, but business leaders want to ensure that inefficient city services or restrictive rules don't stop development in its tracks.

Now, any new commercial project must make several stops in City Hall - inspections, planning and engineering. Eftink says he wants to coordinate the efforts of these departments, and share information that would reduce duplicated efforts. He feels the changes will particularly help those developers who are unfamiliar with the system.

The city's new goal for commercial-plan reviews is 15 days. Residential-plan reviews should be completed within 24 hours. These seem like workable goals that should help move projects through the system. Fischer says the plan-review process should help avoid contractors having to fix problems on the job site.

We realize that the city inspection department walks a fine line. On one hand they must protect consumers by making sure local construction projects meet quality standards. But they must also ensure that red tape and delays are not so tedious as to send development elsewhere. With the help of this special chamber committee and input from developers and tradesmen, we feel the city is working to improve its building permit and construction code process. And that should benefit all citizens of Cape Girardeau.