Consent Item 4e
STAFF REPORT
City Council Consent Item
DATE: March 6, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Liz Shorey, Deputy Director of Community Development THROUGH: Merritt Perry, City Manager
SUBJECT: Supplemental Budget Request for $20,000 to the Building Division’s Engineering Services Account for Earthquake-related Expenses STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Approve Supplemental Budget Request (SBR) to allocate $20,000 to the Building Division’s Engineering Services account to cover third-party plan review while the building inspectors were responding to building damage.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The earthquake of December 21, 2022 resulted in the City’s building department working around the clock inspecting damaged buildings, helping homeowners and businesses assess their damage and offering repair guidance, and estimating damage costs to report to County and State agencies for potential emergency funds. Both inspectors were fully occupied for the first two weeks after the earthquake, and follow-up inspections continued for several weeks after.
In order to maintain their regular office duties including plan check review, building plans were sent out to a professional plan check firm for third-party review of the plans that were submitted in December before the new building codes took effect. The cost to the City for the third-party review was $19,300 for the four sets of plans that were sent out (including $14,200 for The Orchards, a 70- unit multifamily apartment complex on Smith Lane).
The plan review cost was expensed to the Building Division’s “Engineering Services” account. If the SBR is approved, it would leave a balance of $4,000, which should be sufficient to cover the regular third party review of building plan sprinkler systems for new buildings for the remainder of the fiscal year.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The request for $20,000 will cover the cost of the earthquake-related plan review. The costs would come from General Fund reserves, and will be credited once the building permits are issued and fees collected.
Consent Item 4e
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
Approve a Supplemental Budget Request for $20,000 to cover earthquake-related third-party plan review costs. Consent agenda vote.
ATTACHMENTS:
Supplemental Budget Request