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City of Tukwila <br />Allan Ekberg, Mayor <br />INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM <br />TO: Planning and Community Development Committee <br />FROM: Rachel Bianchi, Deputy City Administrator <br />CC: Mayor Ekberg <br />DATE: February 27, 2023 <br />SUBJECT: Code, Permit Process and Culture Review <br />ISSUE <br />Staff is proposing to undertake a review of City building and fire codes, infrastructure <br />regulations, permit review processes, and customer service culture to identify ways to improve <br />the permitting experience for customers while ensuring that life/safety issues and compliance <br />with state law are retained. This effort will likely require a budget amendment to support an <br />audit of our building code, Public Works standards and other requirements. Because this effort <br />would require significant staff time and a budget amendment, staff is seeking Committee <br />consensus to move forward. <br />DISCUSSION <br />The overall goal of the review of City codes, regulations, and processes as it relates to <br />permitting is to better align the City of Tukwila's regulations with neighboring cities, while <br />retaining protections for life/safety issues. This effort is also underway with the Fire Code with <br />the City's recent contractual relationship with the Puget Sound Fire Authority (PSRFA). The <br />Council can expect to see proposed Fire Code changes in the second quarter before their <br />required adoption by June 1, 2023, in accordance with the Washington State Code update. <br />Such alignment could provide reduced workloads in the Permit Center that would free up time <br />for other critical reviews. Already the PSRFA and the Permit Center have been collaborating to <br />remove the PSRFA from reviews of permits not germane to the Fire Marshal, such as <br />mechanical permits, eliminating another `required' touch in the permit process. We would like to <br />take a similar approach to Tukwila specific amendments to the International Building and <br />Residential Codes. <br />The review of the permit process and customer service culture will be a collaborative effort with <br />staff in the Department of Community Development as they are the subject matter experts in <br />this field. We will look to other cities for examples of best practices and benchmarks. However, <br />having a non-DCD staff lead this effort, who has specific experience as the Program Manager <br />on capital projects in Tukwila, provides an additional perspective staff hopes will be informative <br />to the process. <br />The proposed steps for this effort include: <br />• Staff and industry interviews <br />• Code and regulations audit and potential legislation <br />• Review best practice on board of architectural review <br />• Permit process deep dive and review <br />• Develop a culture of customer service <br />• Develop Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for process and customer service <br />Staff expects that there will be a cost associated with this effort, specifically the audit to better <br />understand how Tukwila's Code and regulations differ from neighboring jurisdictions. While that <br />cost is currently unknown, staff is seeking Committee consensus that there is support for this <br />11 <br />