One of the proposals put forth by First Selectman Bill Morrison as part of the budget process is a consolidation and reorganization of the building department. Glenn T. Setzler, Stafford’s chief building official, put together a proposal that brings the building, zoning, and fire marshal offices into one department under the oversight of a director of permits and inspections. The goal is to create more efficiencies and, possibly, bring in more revenue.
To ensure I understood the details of the proposal, I sat down with Morrison and Setzler to talk about the proposal. There’s a lot to understand, so prepare for an info dump.
First, it’s important to note that the building department is a revenue generator. Fees for permits bring money to the town. There is also a fee for fire marshal inspections. Since July 1, 2023, the building department has taken in about $287,000, according to the first selectman. Selectman Morrison is hopeful that with a streamlined department and the ability to handle a higher volume of inspections and permitting, they could increase that revenue.
After a long search for a zoning enforcement officer (ZEO), Stafford hired Andrew Marchese part-time. ZEOs and other building inspectors are hard to come by, bringing us to a few other important points:
Fire Marshal Mark Morrison is also a building inspector and currently performs some of those duties for the town. He is also the first selectman’s son, and if the proposed changes were made, it would have the fire marshal reporting to the director of permits and inspections instead of the first selectman.
Somers does not have its own building inspector and contracts with Stafford to provide those services part-time. Both Setzler and Mark Morrison perform those duties for Somers, and Somers pays Stafford $96,000 a year for that help.
When Mark Morrison is in Somers acting as a building inspector, Somers provides fire marshal services to Stafford.
It’s clear that the lack of people with the necessary certifications and qualifications to fill these kinds of positions has made it imperative for towns across the state to get creative with how they provide these services.
Right now, all of these departments – and the health inspector who is contracted through North Central Health District – work out of the same office and are in close contact with one another, but are not officially one department. This proposal, however, would bring the ZEO and fire marshal under the director of permits and inspections. The new director – likely Setzler in this case – would still act as a building official but could spend more time in the office to deal with questions and permit applications.
The proposal also includes the creation of two part-time positions. A part-time fire inspector would help free up Fire Marshal Morrison to spend more time on the building side of things. The inspector would perform routine but required inspections of local businesses and other buildings. That would, ideally, let the fire marshal focus on big-picture things like fire investigations and infractions while also letting him act more formally as a part-time building inspector.
Over on the zoning side of things, a part-time zoning enforcement technician (ZET) would act as back-up to the ZEO, who is only in the office two days a week. Selectman Morrison also stressed that adding these positions would help create a more sustainable department with a succession plan. As aforementioned, finding and hiring zoning and building inspectors is tough, but hiring part-timers with the right certifications could allow Stafford to essentially create its own farm team, with in-house experts ready to move up to the big leagues when necessary.
Right now, Setzler and Mark Morrison often work six days a week to keep up with the job's demands. Despite the demanding schedule, people are frustrated when they find that they are not in the office. Selectman Morrison is hopeful that freeing Setzler up to spend more time in the office would alleviate some of those issues.
Selectman Morrison says that all of this would only increase the budget by slightly more than $3,000. Setzler explains that because the ZEO position is budgeted for full-time, there is money left in that budget to help pay for the ZET and fire inspector.
The proposal has not gotten full buy-in from the rest of the Board of Selectman (BOS) yet. At the February 8, 2024, BOS meeting Selectman Kurt Vail said, “I see what your plan is. I think it’s a good one.” He just was not sure about hiring two new people. As the board continues to work through the budget and likely make more cuts, Vail added, “I certainly don’t want to cut someone’s current job to create two new jobs.”
So, as the budget process continues, it’s possible that this plan will morph into some other version of itself or be scrapped entirely.