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Infrastructure and Planning Services <br />_. ~. <br />Service Issues and Accomplishments <br />1. Balancing stability of the Construction Permit Fund with adequate staffing levels to meet <br />service demand and an ability to respond in a timely manner to major fluctuations in activity, is <br />' an on-going challenge in this service area. An in-depth rate analysis conducted four years ago, <br />and a companion rate model, is proving to be successful in maintaining fund stability and <br />forecasting resource needs. In FY04, the fund reserve exceeded the target balance of six months <br />for the first time since FY98. Service demand continued to increase in FY05 and FY06, <br />providing adequate reserves to fund FY07 proposals for additional staff to address current <br />workload demands and contingency needs for major commercial projects currently being <br />discussed in the community: new hospital, new basketball arena, and the downtown <br />development project. <br />2. The technical skills increasingly necessary to staff the permitting functions mean 6-12 months <br />of training is regularly necessary for newly hired staff to be fully functional in performing the <br />duties of their position. Recent job recruitments for inspection staff have not been successful in <br />finding individuals with required state certifications to meet minimum job requirements. The <br />applicant pool for these positions also lacks diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity and race. <br />3. Three green building demonstration projects were begun in 2005 supported through funds <br />`` allocated by the City Council for sustainable economic development. The project objectives are <br />to support, recognize, and publicize green building development in the community and to learn <br />more about barriers to and opportunities for sustainable development. The projects are receiving <br />support in the permit process through enhanced technical and procedural consultations, <br />designation of City staff leads and project teams, and expedited permit processing. <br />4. The Council-adopted City Rental Housing Code was successfully implemented in July 2005. <br />Program registration notices were sent to owners in July and billings of $10 per year, per unit <br />owned, began in October. Staff continue to research disputed or exempt properties and build an <br />accurate inventory of all rental properties within Eugene. There are currently 27,600 rental units <br />regulated by the new code. <br />5. Enhancing customer assistance through increased counter hours and better self-help <br />opportunities in the Atrium and on the Planning and Development Department's website <br />continues to be a staff priority. Proposals included in the FY07 budget process would reallocate <br />and increase resources to meet this goal in the third quarter of 2006. <br />6. For the last couple of years, the City Council has set priorities for the Planning Division's <br />work program. This process has been very successful in focusing resources on the highest <br />priority projects. In 2004 and 2005, planning staff focused their efforts on Council prioritized <br />items such as natural resource protection, mixed use centers, minor code amendments and <br />downtown development. While this approach has improved progress on high priority items, <br />there still remains varying degrees of interest for other lower priority projects. Over the long <br />term, it is staff's hope that continued prioritization will provide better opportunities to address <br />these remaining items. <br />63 <br />