Findings of the review
The main findings across the technical review are set out under the 18 terms of reference. The summary
focuses on where recommendations were made by the Department. However, the reader should note that recommendations were not made for each of the 18 terms of reference during each of the two review visits made to the Council. The Department made no recommendations in its 2003 initial report for criteria 1, 13 and 14. Information for these areas informs the review of other criteria and is provided in this summary report, where available.
Criterion 1 - Organisational and management structure
Purpose
To summarise the Council's building control organisational and management structure, and to identify any issues with its efficiency and effectiveness. This criterion also considers how the Council delegates its legislative powers, duties and responsibilities.
Background
Section 78 of the Building Act 1991 covers the delegation of powers of territorial authorities.5 This section links to Schedule 7 of the Local Government Act 2002, which sets out local authorities' broad powers of delegation.
Findings
Over the course of this review, the position of Manager, Environmental Services has been responsible for the overall management of the Council's Building Control Team. The Manager, Environmental Services reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer. During the review, the person occupying this position changed and the new Manager started in August 2005.
The organisational structure of the Environmental Services unit and the staff positions allocated to the Building Control Team changed during the course of the review, as outlined in Figures 2a and 2b opposite and overleaf.
In September 2006, the Council employed 53 full-time equivalent staff, of which 13 were employed in Environmental Services. This includes the Manager, Environmental Services. Two previously vacant positions (a building officer and a compliance officer) had recently been filled, with new staff to commence their duties in September/October. A temporary, part-time (30 hours per week) position for 1 year has also been approved to help with administration. This position was vacant as at September 2006.
By September 2006, the Building Control Team comprised a senior building officer, three building officers (including the new appointee), an administrator (who also processes land information memoranda) and a compliance officer, whose workload is only 50 percent related to building control.
The technical building control staff have trade backgrounds in plumbing and drainage, or building disciplines. The Council has preferred to recruit staff from the trades. Most technical staff are multi-skilled and carry out building or plumbing and drainage consent processing and inspection work. However, the Council prefers that these staff work within their core discipline. Being a relatively small territorial authority, inspectors perform other duties as required, for example, dangerous goods and Resource Management Act monitoring.
Core functions for staff are as follows.
- Senior Building Officer overseeing inspection and administrative staff, processing building consent applications (including commercial projects), undertaking inspections, and dealing with public enquiries.
- Building Inspector processing building consent applications, undertaking inspections, and dealing with public enquiries.
- Plumbing and Drainage Inspector processing the plumbing and drainage components of building consent applications and small building projects (such as garages and decks), and undertaking inspections and dangerous goods work.
- Compliance Officer (General Inspector) dealing with building warrants of fitness, swimming pools and code compliance certificate backlogs, assisting the administration officer, and undertaking inspections.
- Administration Officer entering building consent data, issuing project information memoranda, booking inspections, filing and maintaining consent records, dealing with counter and phone enquiries and general administration.
Figure 2a: Organisational structure, December 2003
Figure 2b: Organisational structure, September 2006
