County considers building inspection fees

Brad Rowan, the new Cheyenne County Planning and Zoning Administrator, met with Cheyenne County Commissioners Monday morning to discuss the procedure of issuing county building permits.

“Presently there is no fee for inspections or issuing permits,” said the planning and zoning administrator. “I’d like to suggest we amend that to sister up to what I’m proposing for the city to do also.”

Rowan explained to the commissioners that with his credentials, if the county updated it’s building codes the ISO rating would be lowered and in return it would lower the homeowners insurance rate.

“Currently your ISO rating is approximately an eight, which is really high,” he said. “The City of Sidney’s is a five.

“By adopting the new codes and approving the fees, you can get it closer to what it is in the city, plus now when I issue the permits there is no tracking of it,” he said. “So once I issue a permit there’s no fees on it. By charging a fee then I can actually go out there to do the entire inspection process plus verify that it has been built.”

Rowan said that there have been times in the past where county officials have not been able to verify that a certain building had in fact been built.

He said that it also helps when collecting census information in giving the most correct building data.

“With all the upcoming projects in the county it would behoove you to charge something just in the sense of something to keep track on it and have the users actually pay for the services,” he said.

“People who are building things, they would be paying for those services. So you wouldn’t have to draw out from the facility.”

The planning and zoning administrator said that he planned on taking the idea up with the planning commission at their next meeting as well as the City of Sidney City Council next Tuesday night.

Cheyenne County Commissioner Harold Winkelman asked Rowan what components went into the ISO rating and if it included aspects of the local fire department.

Rowan said that it did include that department and how it was operated.

“Of course that would be a part of it,” he said. “It’s another step in lowering home owners rates.

“It’s part of that system: the fire department’s equipment, the water supply, and the building code. I’m ensuring that the building codes are structurally sound and that fire protection is built into the buildings based on the International Building Code,” he said.

Rowan said that several of the builders that come into Cheyenne County would actually prefer that there was a more efficient inspection process because they want the building process to begin and there currently is “no enforcement.”

“What kind of a fee are we talking about?” asked Commissioner Ken McMillen.

“If you keep it uniformly and do it off of the evaluations and using the assessor’s rate, the building code fee is going to be anything you want it to be,” said Rowan. “It’s based on what the local jurisdiction chooses.”

Rowan said that his team was calling around to different cities around the area, such as Scottsbluff and Gering,to get a consensus on the idea of fees.

“We’re looking to the future instead of staying at what is stagnant,” said the planning and zoning administrator.

“If you are going to get your roof re-shingled do you have to have a permit for that?” inquired Commissioner Steven Olson.

“Yes, because you’re talking about adding more weight to the rafters and just because you’re putting a new roof on it doesn’t mean that it’s going to be installed correctly,” he said.

“And you don’t want to have five layers of shingles up there because then you have to make the fastening devices to it that would have to connect to the two other layers of roofing,” explained Rowan.

“I’m not talking about raising the fees on roofing projects. They are only $60 or $70 at the most.

“If we can keep it consistent between the county and Sidney then at least the builders know what they are going to be charged when they build outside the city’s jurisdiction,” he said.

Olson asked if there had ever been a building permit fee for out in the country in the past.

Rowan responded that right now there was nothing in place and that he had no records of any in place in the past.

“There haven’t been fees for the last twenty years - at least as long as I’ve been here,” said Beth Fiegenschuh, the Cheyenne County Clerk.

McMillen asked Rowan, “who collects the fees?”

The planning and zoning administrator said that he would personally collect the monetary amounts from the permit signer and deliver those amounts to the county treasurer.

“The permit is not valid until it is paid for,” he said.

“My thought is before I approve this, I think I would like to look at a fee schedule that we would be approving,” said McMillen.

Rowan said that could be arranged and that he understood that the new amended fees would have to go through the planning commission first.

“I just wanted to get direction and to see if I’m on the right path here,” said Rowan. “Just because I address it doesn’t mean you have to acknowledge it. I’d just like to keep it uniformly so if a builder comes in they will know what they have to pay.”

Rowan explained that some ideas floating around were that if a building was to be $500,000 that it would be $2 per thousand in fees after that amount.

He said that the minimum fee would be $30 for the trip his team would have to make to the site.

“So a farmer out in the country who wanted to fix his water line, he’d have to get a permit?” asked Olson.

Rowan said that the farmer wouldn’t have to get a permit just for a water line.

“How about electricity?” inquired the commissioner.

The planning and zoning administrator said that anything that dealt with electricity must go through the state and that his team was not allowed to inspect that.

“I guess I’m a little hesitant to open a can of worms in the county that has never been opened before,” said Winkelman. “I know that you are going to run into opposition - period.”

Rowan said that he understands that the new fees might make him unpopular in the community, but he said that he feels this is the best thing to do to benefit the county residents.

“I’ve learned a lot in the last 30 days I’ve been here, and I’m willing to tackle it,” he said.

The commissioners moved to refer the matter to the Cheyenne County Planning Commission.