Missteps

Building Inspection
In January of 2005 the Common Council approved [14-0] a move to complete contracting of inspection services, including the clerical / secretarial role. It did so based on historical construction averages for Beaver Dam, and the switch included a change from square-footage based fees to construction value fees.

In the background a Walmart distribution center was waiting, which we did not take into account.

The building inspection firm thus took in $676,000 in fees in 2005, a stellar year by any measure, and clearly a mistake by the mayor and Council. The inspector has already been notified that his contract will be changed.

Even though taxpayers didn't pay these fees, some of those fees could have gone into city coffers and perhaps paid for some new trucks, or a software upgrade, or new parks equipment. It was an opportunity lost.

However, when one considers the intent of the change, the wisdom may become apparent in future years. When the inspector has a bad year, he will not come to the city to make up the difference. In fact, he is in the red so far in 2006. Such is the nature of business.

We goofed up, we've acknowledged that, and we've already taken steps to fix it.