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Organizational Study of Inspectional Services City of Springfield, Massachusetts February 21, 2008. Project Scope of Work. To develop an in-depth understanding of inspectional services, including staffing, workload and processes.
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Organizational Study of Inspectional ServicesCity of Springfield, MassachusettsFebruary 21, 2008
Project Scope of Work • To develop an in-depth understanding of inspectional services, including staffing, workload and processes. • To compare the inspectional services to other municipalities and to ‘best management practices’. • To identify key issues in the provision of inspectional services and to recommend alternatives to improve operations and service.
Key Strengths inInspectional Services • Utilization of tools to facilitate work in the field, including vehicles, cell phones, PDAs, etc. • Collection of fees for services and fines for non-compliance. • Geographical assignment of inspectors to minimize the impact of travel on productivity. • Created an intra- city referral process to involve city departments, as appropriate.
Key Issues • Process, skills, tools and equipment utilized in the departments providing inspectional services varied significantly. • Use of antiquated, manual information systems for data recording, tracking and monitoring. • Lack of a comprehensive review and periodic update of user fees. • Limited cross-departmental communication and coordination.
Building Department • Opportunities to better utilize existing staff. • Creation of a Plan Review position. • Increased time in the field for inspectors. • Improved quality control and training programs. • Improve Zoning Ordinance Enforcement and case management, including the addition of 1.0 Zoning Inspector. • Review and change outdated job descriptions and review classifications for administrative personnel as the Department continues to modernize.
Housing Department • Continue with improvements, including expanding use of PDA’s in the field and data analysis using its automated information management system. • Inspectional resources are adequate to meet complaint driven workload. • Reclassify 1.0 Inspector to an Inspectional Services Analyst to enable the Department to analyze data. • Improve response times for reactive workload and monitor performance.
Fire Prevention • Adequate staff to meet fire prevention workload, including inspections, public education, etc. • Implement a number of best practices to improve operations: • Provide sufficient tools and equipment for Fire Inspectors. • Geographically deploy staff. • Expand training and a implementation of a quality control program.
Environmental Health • Staff is sufficient to meet existing workload. • Implement a number of improvement opportunities, including: • Expand resources provided to food service establishments. • Increase the frequency inspections. • Develop quarterly performance reports to better plan, schedule and track workload and performance. • Improve coordination and communication with other municipal departments to ensure Division is aware of all new establishments.
Cross Departmental Issues • Create a Code Enforcement Coordinating Committee to focus on implementation of key recommendations and cross-department coordination and address city-wide issues. • Acquire an automated permitting information system. • Conduct user fee studies and update fees regularly. • Create a proactive, multi-family residential inspection program. • Implement technological solutions and monitor performance prior to a re-evaluation of organizational alternatives (e.g, merging of code enforcement functions).
