10. BUILDING CODE SERVICES - VACANT BUILDING OFFICIAL POSITIONS

SERVICES DU BÂTIMENT – POSTES VACANTS D'AGENTS DU BÂTIMENT

Committee recommendationS

That Council approve:

1. That the Building Official I position #10031455 remain open; and

2. That if any Building Official Intern, Building Official I, II, III, or Specialist position remains open (vacant) for a period greater than two years from the date that it last had an owner, or the original creation date, the position not be declared as surplus to the Corporation’s needs and that the budget allocation and FTE(s) associated with the position not be removed from the corresponding departmental budget.

RecommandationS DU Comité

Que le Conseil approuve :

1. que le poste n^o 10031455 d'agent du bâtiment I demeure ouvert;

2. qu'aucun poste d'agent stagiaire, d'agent I, II ou III ou de spécialiste du bâtiment, s'il demeure ouvert (vacant) pendant plus de deux ans après la date de départ de son dernier titulaire ou de sa création initiale, ne soit déclaré excédentaire et que l'affectation des crédits et ETP associés à ce poste ne soit pas supprimée du budget du service municipal concerné.

Documentation

1. Deputy City Manager's report, Planning and Infrastructure, dated 21 March 2012 (ACS2012-PAI-PGM-0098).

Report to/Rapport au :

Planning Committee

Comité de l'urbanisme

and Council / et au Conseil

21 March 2012 / le 21 mars 2012

Submitted by/Soumis par : Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager, Directrice municipale adjointe, Planning and Infrastructure/Urbanisme et Infrastructure

Contact Person/Personne-ressource: Arlene Grégoire, Director of Building Code Services and Chief Building Official/Directrice des services du code du bâtiment et chef du service du code de bâtiment, Planning and Growth Management/Urbanisme et Gestion de la croissance (613) 580‑2424 x41425, Arlene.Gregoire@ottawa.ca

City Wide/à l'échelle de la Ville

Ref N°: ACS2012-PAI-PGM-0098

SUBJECT:	Building Code Services - Vacant Building Official Positions

OBJET :	Services DU BÂTIMENT – POSTES VacantS D'AGENTS DU BÂTIMENT

REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS

The Planning Committee recommend that Council receive and approve:

1. That the Building Official I position #10031455 remain open; and

RECOMMANDATIONS DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité de l'urbanisme recommande au Conseil d'approuver :

1. que le poste n^o 10031455 d'agent du bâtiment I demeure ouvert;

BACKGROUND

On March 2, 2010 Council reviewed a report respecting vacant positions (ACS2010-CMR-CSE-0011) and directed staff as follows:

That if a position in the City remains open (vacant) for a period of two years from the date that it last has an Owner that the position be declared as surplus to the Corporation’s needs and that the budget allocation and FTEs associated with the position be removed from the corresponding departmental budget; and
That should there be a substantive reason that the position remain open that a staff report be brought before the appropriate Standing Committee for their consideration with a reason why the position is still needed and with a plan that will ensure that the position is filled.

In addition, it was noted during the discussions that some positions were held open for training purposes such as the training to advance building officials and that a report detailing these particular positions would be brought forward. This report provides this information specific to Building Official positions and in addition addresses one specific vacancy noted in Recommendation 1.

One Building Official position in the Building Code Services branch has been vacant for 24 months and thus in accordance with the Council direction, a report setting out the substantive reason why the position is still needed, and a plan to ensure it will be filled, has been prepared for the Planning Committee’s review and decision.

The Building Code Services Branch is the municipal authority in Building Code knowledge, regulation and enforcement. The Building Code Act tasks the Council to appoint a Chief Building Official and such inspectors as are necessary for the enforcement of the Act. Accordingly, City Council has appointed a Chief Building Official, Arlene Grégoire, and 90 other Building Officials comprising of Deputy Chief Building Officials and Managers, Program Managers, Plan Examiners, Building Inspectors, and Building Code Enforcement Officers. The Act further requires that all direct and indirect costs be 100 per cent recovered through building permit revenues to ensure the costs associated with servicing building permits and enforcing the Act and Code do not create a tax pressure. Resources are allocated based on the service levels dictated by provincial legislation, workloads associated with construction activities and Council approved directions. As part of the budget preparation process, branch management assesses the workloads, the impact of new legislative requirements and new Code provisions, estimated workloads that reflect expected construction activities, etc. to confirm resource requirements for the next three years.

As of March 1, 2012, the Building Code Services branch had 19 vacant Building Official FTEs. This represents 9.5 per cent of the total FTE complement of the branch. The percentage of vacancies was at its highest in 2006 (22 per cent) prior to the introduction of a number of strategies to address recruitment difficulties. Corporately, the average annual vacancy rate is closer to 5 per cent.

Recruitment of qualified and Code competent Building Officials is difficult, as the pool in Ottawa is limited, the requisite knowledge and experience is technical and specialized by nature, and competition for people with these skills is strong. The Building Code Services branch experienced two specific challenges since 2001: i). that of recruiting senior Building Officials (plan examiners, building inspectors, building code engineers, program managers, and managers); and ii). that of recruiting graduates for the entry level Building Official positions.

Recruiting senior Building Officials is the most difficult challenge for the following reasons:

· Senior Building Officials can only acquire the requisite knowledge and experience from working in a municipal setting. Servicing building permits and enforcing the Building Code Act and Building Code is solely a municipal responsibility. Thus the pool of candidates is constrained.

· Ottawa requires candidates with knowledge and experience that reflects the sophistication of the construction projects found in Ottawa – large and complex buildings. Municipalities with similar construction projects are located in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and potential candidates are not willing to move to Ottawa despite comparable salaries. This is primarily due to the fact that candidates with five to eight years experience are more often than not a parent of young children and do not wish to uproot the family to seek promotional opportunities when there are plenty in the GTA.

· Promoting from within relies on staff acquiring experience and knowledge over time. Building Code Services has an aggressive training and development program to ensure staff gain the technical qualifications and experience for promotional opportunities – to become a Building Official II, then Building Official Specialist or Building Official III, then possibly moving into management. The branch is also developing a management training and development program similar to the program developed by Public Works to address succession pressures.

Recruiting graduates for the entry level positions:

· In 2006, following years of experiencing recruitment difficulties and in view of new provincial mandatory qualification requirements for Building Officials, management concluded that the best and only way to address the branch’s needs was to establish an internal program to develop qualified Code competent Building Officials. Management further concluded that the most effective way to address the vacancies was to recruit and train candidates to fill level entry positions and then provide ongoing training and development opportunities to promote the Building Officials through the various levels.

· In 2010, the branch formalized the Building Official Internship Program (see ACS2010-ICS-PGM-0064), a first of its kind for municipalities in Ontario.

The program is designed to provide the training necessary to qualify technologist graduates (building sciences, architecture or engineering) in terms of the minimum qualifications standards set by the Province and more importantly, in terms of qualifying for the City’s entry-level Building Official positions. The program provides training over a maximum period of 24 months and has eliminated the recruitment difficulties for entry level positions.

· To date there have been 16 graduates of the program with 10 more candidates currently progressing through the Program. Of the 10 current Interns, seven will be ready to graduate in the fall of 2012 and three in 2013.

· The Building Official I position subject of Recommendation 1 was earmarked for one of the Interns scheduled to graduate in 2012.

Figure 1 illustrates the time intervals required for development and progression of Code competent Building Officials.

DISCUSSION

Recommendation 1:

Reason why the position is still needed:

The position subject of Recommendation 1 is earmarked for one of the Interns scheduled to graduate in 2012. The position continues to be needed to provide a position into which the graduate Intern can be placed following competition per the collective agreement. Without the position, there is a higher risk that the Intern will seek employment elsewhere, which means that the City will have lost its investment in the training and development of the Intern.

In addition, the branch reviews on an ongoing basis, workload demands, resource capacity and, as part of the budget process, the confirmation or adjustment of FTEs to ensure compliance with the Building Code Act. As part of the 2012 budget, it was determined that there was a need for four additional Building Officials to address new legislative responsibilities, particularly with regards to new mandatory inspections related to the conservation building standards. Workloads continue to be challenging and it is not anticipated that there will be a slowdown in construction activity in 2012 and 2013 that would occasion a reduction in resource requirements.

What is the plan that will ensure the position will be filled?

The Building Official Internship Program was established to train and develop candidates that would be qualified to compete for the entry level positions and address difficulties the branch experienced in recruiting qualified candidates. The Program requires a maximum of 24 months to be completed and thus FTEs earmarked for the graduates may remain vacant beyond the threshold specified in the March 2, 2010 report entitled “Vacant Positions” (ACS2010-CMR-CSE-0011). Therefore although a plan is in place, vacant positions will continue to exceed the threshold specified in the report due to the factors set out above.

Recommendation 2:

In view of the lengthy and detailed training and development programs for Interns and Building Officials, vacant positions will continue to exceed 24 months and thereby trigger the requirement to report back to the Planning Committee for each vacant Building Official position.

Positions are earmarked for Interns who are progressing through the Internship Program as they advance through the required levels of proficiency. Vacancies are also held to allow for the time intervals necessary for more junior Building Officials to gain experience and qualifications to move through the more senior positions.

It is recommended that the Building Official positions be exempted from the requirement to report back to the Planning Committee on an individual basis. This is because the training and development programs for these positions will continue to exceed the 24 months threshold, vacant Building Official positions are earmarked for graduates, and that a resource analysis is completed annually with resource requirements adjusted accordingly.

RURAL IMPLICATIONS

There are no rural implications associated with this report

CONSULTATION

As this is an administrative report, public consultation was not undertaken.

COMMENTS BY THE WARD COUNCILLOR(S)

City-Wide - Not Applicable

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

There are no legal implications associated with this report.

RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

There are no risk management implications associated with this report.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

These positions are fully funded through building permit revenues; there are no direct financial implications to maintaining these positions. Should the recommendations not be carried, any resulting compensation budget reductions would be offset by building permit revenue budget reductions.

ACCESSIBILITY IMPACT

There are no accessibility impact implications associated with this report.

TECHNOLOGY IMPLICATIONS

There are no direct technical implications associated with this report.

CITY STRATEGIC PLAN

This report is consistent with the City’s strategic priorities, strategic objectives and strategic initiatives that are to be achieved during the Term of Council, facilitating and improving operational performance, delivering municipal services to Ottawa residents.

SE1 Provide consistent and high-quality information and services to residents, visitors and enterprises and improve clients’ interactions with the City by ensuring services are timely and coordinated, easy to find and access, and delivered in a way that respects residents’ needs.

SE2 Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery to reach targets that have been approved by Council and communicated to residents and staff.

GP2 Integrate planning and performance processes at the City to strengthen decision-making, improve transparency and accountability, align operations with Council priorities, enhance governance, and improve local decision-making while allowing Council and City management to focus on citywide challenges.

EE2 Implement strategies to attract diverse people with the right skills and fit to the organization.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

Not Applicable

DISPOSITION

Not Applicable