City Council Worksession

South St. Paul WORKSESSION AGENDA SSP City Hall 125 3rd Avenue North Training room Monday, December 11, 2023 7:00 pm AGENDA: 1. EAB Response – Stump Grinding 2. Utility Rate Study – Utility Rates Discussion 3. Rental Housing Discussion 4. Council Comments & Questions A COUNCIL WORKSESSION REPORT DATE: DECEMBER 11, 2023 1 DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC WORKS Prepared By: Howard Steenberg, Public Works Director ADMINISTRATOR: ____________ AGENDA ITEM: EAB Response – Stump Grinding DESIRED OUTCOMES: Advise City Council of Staff recommendation to complete stump grinding related to citywide EAB tree abatement and the purchase of a Dipperfox Stump Grinder. Achieve consensus from Council to move forward with Staff recommendation. ISSUE SUMMARY: In the Fall of 2023, the City procured the services of Castle Rock Contracting to complete the removal of approximately 800 dead, dying or diseased Ash trees from public boulevards. As the project was bid, the contractor’s responsibility was solely to remove the trees, leaving the tree stumps to be ground, hauled and holes refilled by the City’s Streets crews. At the November 13 Worksession, Council discussed the disposition of 2022 General Fund Unassigned Fund Balance, and the Council requested further information on the topic of stump removal equipment and process. Staff will be prepared to answer any further questions from Council at Monday’s worksession, but in summary Staff’s recommendation is: • Proceed with “in-house” stump removal, which we anticipate can be completed by the end of 2024 if a 2nd stump grinder (we are suggesting the Dipperfox Stump Grinder, which we are currently renting) is procured. Staff sought estimates from tree removal contractors for stump removal and the estimate ranged from $300 - $400 per stump. • Purchase a Dipperfox Stump Grinder using “leftover” funds designated for Tree Removal project. The purchase price is quoted at $25,865. The Public Works department has been “demoing” this piece of equipment for the past month, at a rental cost of $3,000 per month, and feel that this equipment would provide numerous benefits to operations: o This unit grinds stumps 3 – 4 times faster than our existing high-speed grinder, so putting it into service (in addition to our current grinder) will result in completing the task of removing stumps throughout town in a significantly shorter time period. o The unit operates at a low speed, so rocks and other buried debris will be pushed away rather than “ricocheting” away at a high rate and risking damage to property or injury. o The unit operates in a much more compact footprint and does not require establishing excessively large safety zones and work areas when grinding. o The unit drills deeper below ground level, which means that we should be allowed to plant saplings in the same footprint.  COUNCIL WORKSESSION REPORT A DATE: DECEMBER 11, 2023 2 DEPARTMENT: FINANCE Prepared by: Clara Hilger ADMINISTRATOR: RG AGENDA ITEM: Review draft update of the Utility Rate Study DESIRED MEETING OUTCOMES:  Review the draft update of the Utility Rate Study.  Provide direction to Staff and the City’s Municipal Advisor on next steps in the rate analysis and recommendations OVERVIEW: The Utility Rate Study Plan was originally developed in 2010-2011 by the City’s Municipal Advisors, Ehlers. It has been updated several times since, as a periodic review of this study is a good financial practice. The City’s municipal advisors, Ehlers, Inc. were contracted to do an update of the plan. The analysis provided what was expected. In the Water fund, larger increases in the rates for the next two years are proposed to fund the capital requirements over the next several years, but smaller increases are recommended for the future. Similarly, these same projects will also effect the balances in the Sewer and Storm Sewer funds over the same time period. Again, an increase in the rates for 2024 is proposed but smaller increases are recommended for the future. UPDATE FOR DECEMBER 11 Ehlers has updated the rates based on the requests made at the November 27 meeting. These are the changes that were made: Water  The multi-family user class will be charged a base fee of $17.70 per unit.  Each multi-family user will be tiered, their quarterly usage based on the number of units multiplied by the residential tier blocks and rates (i.e., 48-unit complex first tier is 336,000 gallons or 48 x 7).  The SSP EDA users (John Carroll and Nan McKay buildings) will be tiered, their quarterly usage based on the number of units multiplied by the discounted tier blocks and rates (i.e., 166-unit complex first tier is 996,000 gallons or 166 x 6).  With the increased revenue from the additional base fees, the per 1,000 gallon usage rate for the PFA loan has been reduced from $0.89 to $0.70. Sewer  The multi-family user class will be charged the base fee of $16.40 per unit.  With the change to a base fee per unit, the winter quarter average will be applied to the multi-family user class.  With the increased revenue from the additional base fees, the per 1,000 gallon usage rate was reduced slightly from the previous version. Staff are requesting direction on which utility rate structure we will move forward with. SOURCE OF FUNDS: N/A RATES PRESENTED AT THE NOVEMBER 27 WORKSESSION MEETING Existing Proposed Existing Proposed 2023 2024 2023 2024 Usage Rates Meter Service Charge Residential 5/8" 17.58 25.70 0-7,000 2.71 2.71 3/4" 17.58 25.70 7,001-16,000 3.37 3.37 1" 25.12 31.06 >16,000 5.02 5.02 1.5" 38.34 44.34 Commercial 2" 60.33 60.34 0-60,000 2.71 2.71 3" 83.53 97.70 60,001-325,000 3.37 3.37 4" 130.47 151.06 >325,000 5.02 5.02 6" 202.28 284.34 Multi-Family All Usage 3.37 Existing Proposed High Volume (Industrial) 2023 2024 0-5,000,000 2.66 2.66 Usage Rates 5,000,001-10,000,000 2.94 2.94 Discounted Rates 10,000,001-20,000,000 3.25 3.25 0-6,000 1.36 1.36 >20,000,000 3.54 3.54 6,001-15,000 1.69 1.69 Irrigation >15,000 2.51 2.51 All Usage 5.02 5.02 MPFA Charge - All Users All Usage 0.00 0.89 RATES PRESENTED AT THE NOVEMBER 27 WORKSESSION MEETING Residential Property - 5/8" Senior Discount - 5/8" Meter Multi-Family - 1.5" Meter (48 units) Meter (15,000 gallons/quarter) (3,000 gallons/quarter) (185,000 gallons/quarter) 2023 Quarterly Water Bill $ 63.51 $ 23.02 $ 622.19 Proposed 2024 Quarterly Water Bill $ 84.98 $ 32.45 $ 832.44 $ Increase $ 21.47 $ 9.43 $ 210.25 % Increase 33.8% 41.0% 33.8% Commercial Property - 2" Meter Heavy Industry - 6" Meter (45,000 gallons/quarter) (10,000,000 gallons/quarter) 2023 Quarterly Water Bill $ 182.28 $ 28,202.28 Proposed 2024 Quarterly Water Bill $ 222.34 $ 37,184.34 $ Increase $ 40.06 $ 8,982.06 % Increase 22.0% 31.8% RATES PRESENTED AT THE NOVEMBER 27 WORKSESSION MEETING Existing Proposed 2023 2024 Base Fee Per Bill 10.50 16.40 Usage Rates Residential/Commercial Per 1,000 gallons 7.68 7.95 Discount Rate Per 1,000 gallons 5.76 5.96 High Volume Per 1,000 gallons 6.99 7.24 Sewer Only Flat Rate 125.57 135.65 RATES PRESENTED AT THE NOVEMBER 27 WORKSESSION MEETING Residential Property - 5/8" Meter Senior Discount - 5/8" Meter Multi-Family - 1.5" Meter (48 units) (8,000 gallons/quarter) (3,000 gallons/quarter) (185,000 gallons/quarter) 2023 Quarterly Sewer Bill $ 71.94 $ 27.78 $ 1,431.30 Proposed 2024 Quarterly Sewer Bill $ 80.00 $ 34.28 $ 1,487.15 $ Increase $ 8.06 $ 6.50 $ 55.85 % Increase 11.2% 23.4% 3.9% Commercial Property - 2" Meter Heavy Industry - 6" Meter (45,000 gallons/quarter) (10,000,000 gallons/quarter) 2023 Quarterly Sewer Bill $ 356.10 $ 69,910.50 Proposed 2024 Quarterly Sewer Bill $ 374.15 $ 72,416.40 $ Increase $ 18.05 $ 2,505.90 % Increase 5.1% 3.6% NEW RATES FOR DECEMBER 11 WORKSESSION MEETING Utility Rate Study City of South St. Paul, Minnesota Quarterly Water Rates Existing Proposed Quarterly Rates 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 Percentage Increase 2.00% 2.00% 2.00% Flat Rates Based on Meter Size 5/8" 17.58 8.00 8.80 8.98 9.16 9.34 3/4" 17.58 8.00 8.80 8.98 9.16 9.34 1" 25.12 13.36 14.70 14.99 15.29 15.60 1.5" 38.34 26.64 29.30 29.89 30.49 31.10 2" 60.33 42.64 46.90 47.84 48.80 49.77 3" 83.53 80.00 88.00 89.76 91.56 93.39 4" 130.47 133.36 146.70 149.63 152.62 155.67 6" 202.28 266.64 293.30 299.17 305.15 311.26 All Users Base Fee (MF per unit) 17.70 19.47 19.86 20.26 20.66 Usage Rates Residential/Multi-Family 0-7,000 2.71 2.71 3.28 3.35 3.41 3.48 7,001-16,000 3.37 3.37 4.15 4.23 4.32 4.40 >16,000 5.02 5.02 6.28 6.41 6.53 6.66 Commercial 0-60,000 2.71 2.71 3.28 3.35 3.41 3.48 60,001-325,000 3.37 3.37 4.15 4.23 4.32 4.40 >325,000 5.02 5.02 6.28 6.41 6.53 6.66 High Volume (Industrial) 0-5,000,000 2.66 2.66 3.17 3.23 3.30 3.36 5,000,001-10,000,000 2.94 2.94 3.50 3.57 3.64 3.71 10,000,001-20,000,000 3.25 3.25 3.87 3.95 4.03 4.11 >20,000,000 3.54 3.54 4.21 4.29 4.38 4.47 Irrigation All Usage 5.02 5.02 6.28 6.41 6.53 6.66 MPFA Charge - All Users All Usage 0.00 0.70 0.70 0.70 0.70 0.70 12/6/2023 NEW RATES FOR DECEMBER 11 WORKSESSION MEETING Utility Rate Study City of South St. Paul, Minnesota Quarterly Sanitary Sewer Rates Existing Proposed Quarterly Rates 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 Percentage Increase 6.00% 6.00% 6.00% 6.00% Fixed Charge Per Bill 10.50 16.40 17.38 18.43 19.53 20.70 (MF per unit) Usage Rates Residential/Commercial Per 1,000 gallons 7.68 7.77 8.24 8.73 9.25 9.81 High Volume Per 1,000 gallons 6.99 7.06 7.48 7.93 8.41 8.91 Sewer Only Flat Rate 125.57 132.95 140.93 149.38 158.35 167.85 *Sewer rates are set on winter quarter for residential and churches. Minimum usage per quarter is 4,000 gallons, except during the winter quarter period ending the last week of February, March or April. 12/6/2023 NEW RATES FOR DECEMBER 11 WORKSESSION MEETING Utility Rate Study City of South St. Paul, Minnesota Quarterly Storm Sewer Rates Existing Proposed Quarterly Rates 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 Percentage Increase 17.00% 9.00% 3.00% 3.00% 3.00% Flat Rates Single and 2-Family Residential 16.34 19.12 20.84 21.46 22.11 22.77 Per Acre Rates Multi-Family 90.41 105.78 115.30 118.76 122.32 125.99 Commercial 114.51 133.98 146.03 150.42 154.93 159.58 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Industrial 120.55 141.04 153.74 158.35 163.10 167.99 Churches, Private Schools 72.35 84.65 92.27 95.04 97.89 100.82 Airport Hangers 120.55 141.04 153.74 158.35 163.10 167.99 Vacant Land 24.11 28.21 30.75 31.67 32.62 33.60 Quarterly Discounted Rates Existing Proposed Quarterly Rates 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 Percentage Increase Water 2.00% 2.00% 2.00% Percentage Increase Sewer 6.00% 6.00% 6.00% 6.00% Discounted Water Rates Water Usage MPFA Charge - All Usage 0.00 0.70 0.70 0.70 0.70 0.70 0-6,000 1.36 1.36 1.65 1.68 1.72 1.75 6,001-15,000 1.69 1.69 2.08 2.12 2.16 2.21 >15,000 2.51 2.51 3.14 3.20 3.27 3.33 Discounted Sewer Rates Fixed Charge Per Bill 10.50 16.40 17.38 18.43 19.53 20.70 Usage Rate Per 1,000 gallons 5.76 5.83 6.18 6.55 6.94 7.36 12/6/2023 NEW RATES FOR DECEMBER 11 WORKSESSION MEETING Utility Rate Study City of South St. Paul, Minnesota Impact Analysis on Rate Payers Existing Proposed 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 Sample Quarterly Bill Residential Property - 5/8" Meter Water (15,000 gallons/quarter) $ 63.51 $ 82.13 $ 94.93 $ 96.62 $ 98.34 $ 100.10 Sewer (8,000 gallons/quarter) 71.94 78.56 83.27 88.27 93.57 99.18 Storm Sewer 16.34 19.12 20.84 21.46 22.11 22.77 Total Quarterly Utility Bill $ 151.79 $ 179.81 $ 199.04 $ 206.35 $ 214.01 $ 222.05 $ Increase/(Decrease) $ 28.02 $ 19.23 $ 7.31 $ 7.66 $ 8.03 % Increase/(Decrease) 18.50% 10.70% 3.70% 3.70% 3.80% Commercial Property - 2" Meter Water (45,000 gallons/quarter) $ 182.28 $ 213.79 $ 245.47 $ 249.75 $ 254.12 $ 258.57 Sewer (45,000 gallons/quarter) 356.10 366.05 388.01 411.29 435.97 462.13 Storm Sewer (5 acres) 572.55 669.88 730.17 752.08 774.64 797.88 Total Quarterly Utility Bill $ 1,110.93 $ 1,249.72 $ 1,363.66 $ 1,413.13 $ 1,464.73 $ 1,518.58 $ Increase/(Decrease) $ 138.79 $ 113.94 $ 49.47 $ 51.61 $ 53.85 % Increase/(Decrease) 12.50% 9.10% 3.60% 3.70% 3.70% Senior Discount - 5/8" Meter Water (3,000 gallons/quarter) $ 23.02 $ 31.88 $ 35.32 $ 35.98 $ 36.66 $ 37.35 Sewer (3,000 gallons/quarter) 27.78 33.88 35.92 38.07 40.35 42.78 Storm Sewer 16.34 19.12 20.84 21.46 22.11 22.77 Total Quarterly Utility Bill $ 67.14 $ 84.88 $ 92.07 $ 95.52 $ 99.12 $ 102.90 $ Increase/(Decrease) $ 17.74 $ 7.19 $ 3.44 $ 3.61 $ 3.78 % Increase/(Decrease) 26.40% 8.50% 3.70% 3.80% 3.80% Heavy Industry - 6" Meter Water (10,000,000 gallons/quarter) $ 28,202.28 $ 35,284.34 $ 40,662.77 $ 41,336.03 $ 42,022.75 $ 42,723.21 Sewer (10,000,000 gallons/quarter) 69,910.50 70,616.40 74,853.38 79,344.59 84,105.26 89,151.58 Storm Sewer (6 acres) 723.30 846.26 922.42 950.10 978.60 1,007.96 Total Quarterly Utility Bill $ 98,836.08 $ 106,747.00 $ 116,438.58 $ 121,630.71 $ 127,106.61 $ 132,882.74 $ Increase/(Decrease) $ 7,910.92 $ 9,691.58 $ 5,192.13 $ 5,475.90 $ 5,776.13 % Increase/(Decrease) 8.00% 9.10% 4.50% 4.50% 4.50% Multi-Family - 1.5" Meter (48 units) Water (185,000 gallons/quarter) $ 622.19 $ 1,507.09 $ 1,700.16 $ 1,731.58 $ 1,763.62 $ 1,796.30 Sewer (185,000 gallons/quarter) 1,431.30 2,224.65 2,358.13 2,499.62 2,649.59 2,808.57 Storm Sewer (2 acres) 180.82 211.56 230.60 237.52 244.64 251.98 Total Quarterly Utility Bill $ 2,234.31 $ 3,943.30 $ 4,288.89 $ 4,468.71 $ 4,657.86 $ 4,856.85 $ Increase/(Decrease) $ 1,708.99 $ 345.59 $ 179.82 $ 189.14 $ 199.00 % Increase/(Decrease) 76.50% 8.80% 4.20% 4.20% 4.30% 12/6/2023 NEW RATES FOR DECEMBER 11 WORKSESSION MEETING Quarterly Monthly Residential Property - 5/8" Meter Senior Discount - 5/8" Meter Multi-Family - 1.5" Meter (48 units) Per Unit Per Unit (15,000 gallons/quarter) (3,000 gallons/quarter) (185,000 gallons/quarter) Charge Charge 2023 Quarterly Water Bill $ 63.51 $ 23.02 $ 622.19 $ 12.96 $ 4.32 Proposed 2024 Quarterly Water Bill $ 82.13 $ 31.88 $ 1,507.09 $ 31.40 $ 10.47 $ Increase $ 18.62 $ 8.86 $ 884.90 $ 18.44 % Increase 29.3% 38.5% 142.2% Quarterly Monthly Commercial Property - 2" Meter Heavy Industry - 6" Meter SSP EDA - 4" Meter (166 units) Per Unit Per Unit (45,000 gallons/quarter) (10,000,000 gallons/quarter) (2,393,000 gallons/quarter) Charge Charge 2023 Quarterly Water Bill $ 182.28 $ 28,202.28 $ 6,122.62 $ 36.88 $ 12.29 Proposed 2024 Quarterly Water Bill $ 213.79 $ 35,284.34 $ 8,462.15 $ 50.98 $ 16.99 $ Increase $ 31.51 $ 7,082.06 $ 2,339.53 $ 14.09 % Increase 17.3% 25.1% 38.2% NEW RATES FOR DECEMBER 11 WORKSESSION MEETING Quarterly Monthly Residential Property - 5/8" Meter Senior Discount - 5/8" Meter Multi-Family - 1.5" Meter (48 units) Per Unit Per Unit (8,000 gallons/quarter) (3,000 gallons/quarter) (185,000 gallons/quarter) Charge Charge 2023 Quarterly Sewer Bill $ 71.94 $ 27.78 $ 1,431.30 $ 29.82 $ 9.94 Proposed 2024 Quarterly Sewer Bill $ 78.56 $ 33.88 $ 2,224.65 $ 46.35 $ 15.45 $ Increase $ 6.62 $ 6.10 $ 793.35 $ 16.53 % Increase 9.2% 22.0% 55.4% Quarterly Monthly Commercial Property - 2" Meter Heavy Industry - 6" Meter SSP EDA - 4" Meter (166 units) Per Unit Per Unit (45,000 gallons/quarter) (10,000,000 gallons/quarter) (2,328,000 gallons/quarter) Charge Charge 2023 Quarterly Sewer Bill $ 356.10 $ 69,910.50 $ 13,419.78 $ 80.84 $ 26.95 Proposed 2024 Quarterly Sewer Bill $ 366.05 $ 70,616.40 $ 16,288.82 $ 98.13 $ 32.71 $ Increase $ 9.95 $ 705.90 $ 2,869.04 $ 17.28 % Increase 2.8% 1.0% 21.4% A CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION REPORT DATE: 12/11/2023 3 DEPARTMENT: CITY CLERK Prepared by: Deanna Werner ADMINISTRATOR: RG AGENDA ITEM: DESIRED MEETING OUTCOMES: • Discuss potential ways of improving the rental license process. • Discuss potential of bringing inspections “in-house” and adding an inspector position. DISCUSSION: South St. Paul has a duty to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the city who live in rental units, the property owners who operate and manage rental units, and the general public who reside next to rental units, by adopting a rental dwelling inspection and maintenance program that corrects substandard conditions and maintains a standard for existing and newly constructed rental dwellings in the city. Over the past few months, it has been suggested that staff review the current practices and procedures related to rental properties and the inspection process related to rental licensing. Rental licenses are currently issued annually on a uniform renewal date. The licenses run from June 1 of the issuing year through May 31st of the following year. Before a new rental license is issued, the property owner is required to provide the city with one of two types of inspection: either a Time of Sale inspection dated within the last 12 months, or a rental inspection. These inspections are performed by a City-licensed housing evaluator at least once every three years. As a city, we license the housing evaluators and maintain a list of rental housing evaluators. It is the responsibility of the owners of a rental property to arrange for an inspection by one of these evaluators to obtain or renew their rental license. Currently, there are approximately 750 licensed residential rental properties in South St. Paul. One of the issues with a uniform annual license is that while the licenses run with uniform dates (June 1 – May 31 of the following year), the inspections required every three years do not. The City Code does not currently contain any consequence if an inspection expires during the rental license period. When a rental property’s inspection expires, our practice is to send letters to the license holder that their property requires a new inspection before it can be relicensed for the coming year. One solution to this would be to move to rolling rental licenses, so inspections and licenses expired on the same timeline. Rolling rental license renewals would be beneficial for a couple of reasons. First, processing close to 800 licenses is a daunting task and spreading them out over 12 months would allow for better processing in the City Clerk’s office. In addition, tying the renewal to the inspection would allow staff to ensure our rental properties are being inspected in a timely manner. Under the current system, some rental properties go almost 4 years without an inspection and are still compliant with the City Code. Another area of concern in the rental licensing process is the fact that we treat all rentals the same regarding the inspection process. A single family dwelling is required to have an inspection once every three years. A multi-family dwelling, regardless of the number of units, has that same requirement and the City Code does not differentiate how many units are required to be inspected in the large, multi-family dwellings. We would propose a change that would assure that properties having more than a specific number of units (for discussions’ sake, let’s say twelve), are required to have 25% of their units inspected annually. Inspections and rental property are closely tied; however, the City’s involvement in the TOS and Rental Inspection program are limited. The city licenses the 3rd party evaluators, but the evaluators are not city employees. The city provides the list of the evaluators to property owners. Currently there are 9 licensed TOS evaluators and 12 evaluators who are dual licensed as TOS and Rental Evaluators. A property owner pays for these evaluators directly. The city charges a $35 filing fee to the evaluator for a TOS inspection, and the city does incur a fair amount of administrative burden and cost in oversight of the programs. While SSP’s approach of leaving the “legwork” of the inspections for both TOS and rentals in the hands of independent contractors is a common practice, many of our neighboring cities utilize city staff to conduct these inspections. As a staff we have discussed whether taking this process under our own authority could be beneficial for all parties involved and the consensus is that it would be beneficial in achieving our goals of protecting the public health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the city who live in rental units. We would like to get some insight into whether there is support from the Council to move in this direction and/or if there are other avenues to be considered. Some of the benefits to in-house inspections would be, but are not limited to: • More consistency in evaluations. • Expertise of our City Code and direct “ownership” of the evaluation process, standards, and reporting. • Improved compliance when hazards are identified and a more streamlined approach to correction. • Consistent fee schedule. • Revenue Generation. Currently the City’s building inspection department is staffed by one permit technician and the building official. The majority of the fieldwork required is performed by a single staff person (Joe Heimkes, SSP’s building official). While Joe is a thorough and reliable professional for the city, his position is spread quite thin. In addition to field inspections, the building official is the principal plan reviewer for all building permits – everything from a routine deck plan to multi- story apartment towers require a code review by the building official to assure construction is undertaken in a manner that complies with building codes that quite literally protect life and property. If the Council elects to move to an in-house TOS and/or rental inspection model, it is anticipated that the creation of a housing/rental inspector position would be necessary. This position would be able to assist with other important tasks from the building official’s office which are currently outsourced (see below), which would significantly expand the level of service we can provide to our community. Currently, the City contracts with Inspectron, a 3rd party inspection service to maintain the high level of service our community has come to expect for the building inspection department. The inspection services are paid at a rate of $5,000 per month, or roughly $60,000 per year which could be discontinued if this new model of in house inspections is implemented. In the most recent 12 month period, there have been 270 TOS inspections performed by outside evaluators. In addition, another 246 rental inspections will need to be conducted prior to the coming rental licensing year (prior to June 1). TOS inspections are typically driven by the market; as houses are selling, inspections will go up, so the 270 TOS could go up or down in a year. The rental inspections are done on a 3 year rotation, with roughly 1/3 of the rental properties in the city requiring an inspection once every three years. If we were to set our fees to align with other cities using in-house inspectors, Staff’s review of other communities’ fee structure indicates that we ould charge approximately $150.00 per initial inspection and $20.00 for each addition unit inspected. If hazardous conditions are found, a reinspection fee of $50.00 would be assessed for each subsequent inspection. This is less than what most of the independent evaluators are being paid, which is reported to be between $175.00 - $250.00 for an initial inspection. If this base amount of $150.00 is applied to the number of inspections likely to occur in the next 12 month period (512), approximately $77,000 would be generated for the city to offset the cost of the additional staff. The revenue estimate is modest and likely could be higher. If the Council elects to move forward with an “in-house” model, the Administration would explore in greater detail the appropriate title, position description and pay ranges for an rental/housing inspector, but it is anticipated that a significant majority of personnel costs could be “offset” by these increased revenues. RECOMMENDATION: Staff believes that the city will be best served by modifying our approach to Rental, Time-of- Sale, and Building Inspections. Adjusting the City Code to allow citations to be issued in the absence of an up-to-date inspection and moving to a rolling schedule for the issuance of annual rental licenses, which would allow for licensing and inspections to align. We are confident that modification to the City Code as it relates to the of licensing rentals and adding a Building and Housing Inspector Position will provide economic benefits to our residents, improve the quality of rental property in the city and improve the consistency, responsiveness, and quality of inspection services our property owners receive. We believe that that is the most beneficial approach for the long-term interests of our customers and for the success of our organization. SOURCE OF FUNDS: Staff, including SSPPD and SMFD are of the opinion the time is right to pivot to this new model of inspections and provide additional staffing to the inspections department which can provide backup to the building official as well as to improve the level of service for time of sale and rental inspections as required by ordinance. Our projections lead us to believe that revenues generated through building permit fees, time of sale inspection fees, and rental inspection fees would more than support the costs of salary plus benefits for this position.