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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 14486~n ORDINANCE NUMBER ~ Ll7 4 b AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE FORT WORTH MECHANICAL CODE, BY PROVIDING FOR THE HOLDING OF A DEPOSIT TO COVER THE PLUMBING INSPECTION OF BUILDINGS BY APPROVED THIRD PARTY ORGANIZATIONS, PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR THE VIOLATION THEREOF, PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE SHALL BE CUMULATIVE, PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE, PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION IN PAMPHLET FORM, PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER, AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City of Fort Worth has heretofore enacted provisions allowing for the plan review and inspections of construction projects by separate third party organizations, WHEREAS, the Crty of Fort Worth wishes to provide a fair and equitable plan review and permit fee schedule for those individuals taking advantage of the third party option in order to ensure that fees do not exceed the cost of providing such services, WHEREAS, the Crty of Fort Worth now wishes to amend the fees involved for field inspections services to provide for the holding of a deposit to cover plumbing inspections, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS, AS FOLLOWS SECTION 1 Section 7-167 of the Code of the Crty of Fort Worth (1986) is amended by inserting new amendments as follows SECTION COS *Section C05.2, changed to read as follows C05.2 Permit fees. The fee for each permit shall be as set forth m Table C05.2 ~~~ Any person obtaining a permit application required by this code shall, at the time of filing, pay a permit and anon-refundable application fee as required by this section for the installation, relocation or replacement of any of the listed items. Exceptions• 1 Where the fees for new structures and additions to structures have been collected on a building permit, the permit fee is not required but the permit application shall be filed by the person doing the work before work is commenced. 2 Where these fees are being invoiced monthly and the account is past due, a penalty and/or interest charge as prescribed by the jurisdiction, shall be assessed. The above assessed fee and delinquent payment shall be paid before additional permits will be issued or additional inspections performed. 3 Buildings or structures owned and occupied by a Federal, State, or County entity on property owned by the Federal, State, or County entity shall be exempt from the permit fees. This exception does not apply to public school distracts or county community colleges. 4 Work by non-City personnel on property under the control of the City of Fort Worth shall be exempt from the permit fees only if the work is for action under a contract approved by Crty Council with notes m the contract packages stating the fee is waived. 5 Worlc by Crty personnel on property under the control of the Crty of Fort Worth shall be exempt from the permit fees only if the application is accompanied by a copy of the work order for the project. 6 When the project is to be inspected by an approved third party organization as described in Section C08, the permit fee shall be reduced by 90% However, an additional 10% deposit of the building permit fee shall be required to cover third party plumbing inspections. Such deposit shall be used to pay, through a billing process established by the Development Department, for the plumbing inspection services performed. Exemption or reduction of the permit fees under this section shall not waive the requirements to pay a frill investigation fee for doing work without a permit as required under Section COS 3 SECTION C08 *Section C08.7 changed to read as follows C08.7 Qualifications. The Third Party Organization shall submit documents, as required by the Code Official, to show adequate training, knowledge and/or certification in the fields upon which service is to be rendered. The Code Official shall review the 6 ~~ documents along with proof of required insurance and all required executed agreements. If m compliance, the Code Official shall approve the Third Party Organization. If not approved, or if approval is revoked for~ust cause by the Code Official, the Third Party Organization may appeal to the Construction and Fire Prevention Board of Appeals Just cause may include but not be hmrted to violation of any provision of this ordinance, loss or expiration of required insurance, violation of the conflict of interest provision or any such action that may result in the questioning of qualifications. SECTION 2 This article shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances and of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (1986), as amended, except where the provisions of this article are m direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, m which event conflicting provisions of such ordinances and such Code are hereby repealed. SECTION 3 Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000 00) for all violations involving fire safety, or public health and sanitation and shall be fined not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500 00) for all other violations of this ordinance Each day or any portion thereof during which any violation of this ordinance occurs or continues shall be deemed a separate offense and upon conviction thereof shall be punishable as herein provided. SECTION 4 It is hereby declared to be the uitention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses, and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and, if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, or section of this ordinance shall be declared void, ineffective, or unconstitutional by the vahd~udgment or final decree of any court of competent~urisdiction, such voidness, ineffectiveness, or unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, and sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without the incorporation m this ordinance of any such void, ineffective, or unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, or section. SECTION 5 ~ f~ This ordinance constitutes a digest and revision of the Mechanical Code of the City of Fort Worth, as provided m Section 2, Chapter XXV, and Section 9, Chapter XXVII, of the Charter of the City of Fort Worth. The Development Department of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, is hereby authorized to publish this ordinance m pamphlet form for general distribution among the public, and the operative provisions of this ordinance, as so published, shall be admissible in evidence in all courts without further proof than the production thereof, as provided in Chapter XXV, Section 3, of the Charter of the City of Fort Worth, Texas SECTION 6 The Crty Secretary of the City of Fort Worth, is hereby directed to publish the caption, penalty clause, and effective date. of this ordinance for two (2) days in the official newspaper of the City of Fort Worth, Texas as authorized by Sectron 2, Chapter XXV of the Charter of the City of Fort Worth, Texas and by Section 52.013 (a) of the Texas Local Government Code SECTION 7 This ordlnance shall be ul full force and effect thirty (30) days after its passage and publication, and rt is so ordained. Assist t City Attorney Date / ~ v Adopted ~ ~ l 6 -a/ Effective 12-26-00 ~.,/ City of Fort Worth, Tezas N!J' n~oe and C.ounci! CommunicAtian DATE REFERENCE NUMBER LOG NAME PAGE 1 /16/01 **G-13127 06PROGRAM AGREEMENTS AND ORDINANCES ESTABLISHING THI INSPECTION PROGRAM RECOMMENDATION 1 of 3 PARTY PLUMBING It is recommended that the City Council 1 Authorize the City Manager to enter into agreemerits with independent contractors for third party plumbing inspectors to perform plumbing inspections within the City of Fort Worth, and `~ 2 Adopt the attached ordinances which establish 10% as the amount retained for new construction building permits to cover the maximum amount payable for third party plumbing inspection services, and 3 Adopt the attached ordinances which establish 90% as the amount retained for all plumbing work permits, other than new construction, to cover the maximum amount payable for third party plumbing inspection services, and 4 Adopt the attached appropriation ordinance increasing estimated receipts and appropriations in the General Fund by $115,000 DISCUSSION On March 2, 1999 (M&C G-12492), -the City-Council adopted ordinance amendments and directed staff to implement a program allowing third party .plan review and inspection services for the Building, __ Electrical, Plumbing and Mechanical Codes_ This program was necessary to address heavy demands in building construction inspections, problems with recruiting and retaining"-qualified City staff,~and to-_- better meet the special expertise or expedited schedules for various projects At the time of implementation, the City was experiencing 30% of all inspection requests not being performed within 24-- hours of the. request, resulting in a decrease of productivity, construction delays and increased costs. ----- - -- The third party program allowed contractors and/or owners of projects to contract directly with plan review or inspection firms to provide services normally delivered by the Development Department. On_-_ May 25, 1999 (M&C G-12568), the City Council authorized a waiver of 90% of the calculated building, electrical, plumbing or mechanical fees for projects managed by a third party firm The collection of _ 10% by the City was determined as the _amoun_t necessary to cover staff costs in quality control and- record generation or management. - - --- On August 16, 2000, the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (Board) inquired into Fort Worth's - --- third party program to determine if the program was upholding the State Plumbing License Law and - -_ Board's rules. In particular, the Board had questions regarding the employment relationship between -- the City and the third party plumbing inspector and the method of payment for those services. ~... ~~__ Subsequent replies and communications with the Board resulted in the Board Administrator ruling that ,, the Fort Worth third party plumbing inspection process was not meeting the requirements of the - ~- Plumbing License Law or the Board's rules. The matter was forwarded to the Board's Enforcement Committee for consideration on September 28, 2000 ^ City of Fort Worth, Texas ~11~A~ar And uunc~l o1n1~t1~necAtlan ~ C DATE REFERENCE NUMBER LOG NAME PAGE 1/16/01 **G-13127 06PROGRAM 2 of 3 SUBJECT AGREEMENTS AND ORDINANCES ESTABLISHING THIRD PARTY PLUMBING INSPECTION PROGRAM City staff attended the Enforcement Committee meeting in September 2000, and it was determined that a contractual agreement similar to those with other jurisdictions might address the Board's concerns of employment and compensation A draft agreement between the City and individual plumbing inspectors was submitted to the Board on November 8, 2000,'and discussed at their November 13, 2000 meeting Following the hearing, the Board's attorney relayed to the City that minor changes to the agreement would make the contract acceptable to the Board A revised agreement was submitted to the Board on December 8, 2000 The proposed agreement makes each third party plumbing inspector an independent contractor of the City and restructures the method of payment for those inspection services. The City will collect, at the time of permitting issuance, a percentage of the total building permit for the plumbing portion of a project. Upon completion of plumbing inspections by the third party inspector and invoicing of those services, the City will issue payment for the services rendered On December 22, 2000, the Board Administrator communicated that the .Board's Enforcement Committee, .Board staff and the Board's attorney had reviewed the Plumbing Inspection Agreement ~, submitted on December 8, 2000 The Board's attorney advised the Board that under the revised i agreement, the relationship between the Licensed Plumbing Inspectors and the City of Fort Worth, i along with the method for compensating the Licensed Plum_ b_ing Inspectors,_does not violate the__ Plumbing License Law or-Board rules:-- - - ~~ _~- - ~ _ ._ _ __ to order to begin implementation -of the restructured third- partyplumbing inspection program, it is necessary to authorize the City Manager to enter into agreements with each third party plumbing inspector as independent contractors. A copy of the proposed Plumbing Inspection Agreement is attached. -- Additionally, it is proposed to withhold 10% of all building permit fees for related plumbing inspection services for each new construction project. In the case of_ remodeling projects or jobs with only - plumbing work, the City will collect the entire plumbing permit fee of which 90% will be returned as payment for inspection services. These collections will equal the maximum amount payable to the third party plumbing inspector for services rendered It is estimated that for the remainder of the fiscal year, collection for the new construction projects would be $105,000, and collections for the plumbing permit only projects would be $10,000 Attached are the necessary ordinance amendments to facilitate this collection _ _ _. In order to manage the collections, invoicing -and issuance of payments for the third party plumbing inspection program, it is estimated that one additional authorized -position and associated office supplies and equipment will be needed The annual impact on the General Fund budget is estimated to be $43,000 The present implementation of this program will be handled as an overage and more clearly identified in the proposed FY2001-2002 General Fund budget once actual impact can be determined 7 i _y' 9, __ i >. City of Fort Worth, Texas M,,A~or and council ~,ammunicAtion DATE REFERENCE NUMBER LOG NAME -PAGE 1/16/01 **G-13127 06PROGRAM 3 of 3 SUBJECT AGREEMENTS AND ORDINANCES ESTABLISHING THIRD PARTY PLUMBING INSPECTION PROGRAM Favorable consideration by the City Council for the third party plumbing inspection program and structure will authorize staff to implement the program on February 5, 2001 It should be noted that staff has been working with the Safety and Community Development Committee to change the structure and amounts of building permits Changes of fees and the percent waiver for third party inspection services will be recommended in the near future At that time, the attached ordinances will need to be amended appropriately FISCAL INFORMATION/CERTIFICATION The Finance Director certifies that upon approval of the above recommendations, funds will be available, as appropriated, in the General Fund MG:k Submitted for City Manager's Office by: Mike Groomer Originating Department Head: Bob Riley FUND ACCOUNT CENTER AMOUNT CITY SECRETARY 6140 8901 I (from) Additional Information Contact: Bob Riley 51 Adcpted Orct;r~a,~c~R i~._, gpPROV _ - -CITY COUNCIL.-- .JAN 16 2001=~_ ~~.--1~ - City Secretary of tlhQ .. City of Fort FUorth, TexaG.:_ pted ordinancQ Noe /,~6 - _=_ Adopted Ordlnance. Pdoa~ Adopted Ordinance No. lyy89