The City of Yakima Community Development department is seeking council approval of an interlocal agreement between the cities of Selah and Yakima that would enable Selah’s Community Development department to continue to utilize Yakima’s building inspectors for building inspection services and plans examiners for review of developer’s building plans for compliance with Selah's local codes.
Yakima has been performing building inspections for Selah on an as-needed basis since 2012. This new agreement extends the service for another 5 years. Also, the number of Selah plan reviews comprise of approximately 10% of the number of plan reviews for Yakima's customers. Should Yakima perform all of Selah’s reviews, the additional work load would be absorbed without the need for additional staff.
Prior to Yakima reviewing Selah's building plans, Selah paid approximately $35,000 for plan review services to a private firm in the greater Seattle area over a one year period. The City of Selah's development community benefits from having their reviews performed at a local level. This adds simplicity and customer service, as developers have increased access and communication with those reviewing their plans. Under the proposed agreement, Yakima would continue to be an additional source, but without limitation to being their sole source for those services. Under the previous contract, Selah continued to utilize the Seattle firm for commercial plan reviews and only used Yakima's plans examiners for residential reviews. The City of Selah is working toward training their own staff and plans to eventually perform their own plan reviews, but plans to continue to utilize Yakima's building inspectors to fill in during their staff's vacations or sick leave. Revenues generated are added to Yakima’s general fund as a separate line item for tracking purposes. |