Knox County Commission to consider doubling new home permit fees

Knox County officials are looking into a proposal to double the cost of building permit fees for new homes and bring them more in line to those of Knoxville and Farragut.

The move – if approved by the Knox County Board of Commissioners – would increase revenues by more than $1 million annually and allow the county to use the fee to fully self-fund its inspections department for new construction.

County leaders haven’t increased the fee since 1994 and, at this point, the general fund – which is supported by tax payer revenues – covers part of the cost of the department.

“We’re not rendering any judgment, but we just thought it was important to lay the question out for commission’s consideration,” said Dwight Van de Vate, the county’s senior director of its Engineering and Public Works Department.

Van de Vate brought the proposal to commissioners during Monday’s work session. The board is expected to vote on it during its May 23 meeting.

If approved, the fees would increase 85 percent on July 1, and another 15 percent on July 1, 2017.

As it stands, permit fees for a 2,500-square-foot home, for example, cost $571.25. That cost would jump to $1,035 with an 85 percent increase and $1,155 in 2017, under the proposal.

Permit fees for the same home in Knoxville and Farragut currently run about $1,370.

The fees are typically charged to the builder or homeowner during the course of construction. In theory, the fees are supposed to cover the inspections department, but right now the general fund has to help pay for those operating costs.

However, Dan Mitchell, Vice President of the Home Builders Association of Greater Knoxville, said home development fees should differ in cities and counties.

"When you're building inside the city, and let's use Farragut as an example, part of their permitting structure is also to help pay for the roadways and the sidewalks and the infrastructure that's located within the city," he said.

Mitchell continued, "But when we're talking about the county, where it's more out in rural areas typically that these homes are being built, it's not the same comparison when you say this permit fee is going to be used in the same way."

He also said a change of this size could be too quick and drastic for developers and home buyers.

"If this increase comes in a short term, it's going to have an impact on those projects that we have in the pipeline now, but several projects we may have in the next 6 to 8 months," Mitchell said.

Van De Vate based the proposed increases on the International Code Council’s residential building code, which is a set of construction standards that governments nationwide have adopted.

“We’re trying to avoid coming up with arbitrary numbers and instead use figures that relate to the cost of construction,” Van de Vate said. The (International Code Council) gives us that guidance that’s based on the costs of materials and work.”

Knoxville, Farragut and Knox County each adopted the International Code Council’s standards, but the county hasn’t raised its fees in 22 years.

Van de Vate said officials pushed for an increase in 2007, but the commission rejected it. He said the housing market then bottomed out a short time later, so officials wanted to wait until it recovered before trying again.

“We didn’t think it was a fair conversation to have until the construction trades had recovered,” he said.

The county expects to issue more than 1,150 new home permits in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. it issued 1,058 last year and 924 in 2014.

County prepares for winter weather

Looks like Dwight and the boys over at the county's Engineering and Public Works Department put in some extra work, monitoring the local roads and taking some precautions due to this rainy - potentially snowy - mess.

Anyone who needs to report a road problem or hazardous road condition on a Knox County Road should call 865-215-5800.

In the meantime, click right smack here for the department's weather plan.

County did actually pay waste water fine

Yesterday I posted – click right smack here for the riveting conversation – that the county did not pay a fine for waste water stuff. Apparently, that's not the case. (Thanks, Michael Grider.)

County folks got back to me last night (actually, Grider got back to me last night), letting me know that – yes – the county did actually pay some coin.

And it was due to our old pals at Natural Resources Recovery of Tennessee. I think

Grider said the details are outlined in the Consent Agreement and Final Order between the company and the county. You can read that bad boy by clicking right smack here.

Look under section II.

The county – according to Public Works and Engineering Director Dwight Van de Vate via Grider – paid $4,000 and NRRT paid $8,000.

TBI probe shakes up county 'dirty lot' crew

It started with an anonymous phone call: A handful of employees in the Knox County Engineering and Public Works Department were stealing equipment.

It ended with one worker indicted for theft, a supervisor retiring and another worker fired "for making it through an entire day doing absolutely nothing business-related for Knox County," officials said. Two others were demoted — one because he mowed his lawn on taxpayer time, the other because he falsified his job application.

Although only one person was ever tied to the stolen-equipment tip, the results shook up the public works department's "dirty lot" crew that is typically tasked with cleaning out abandoned buildings and keeping county property tidy.

Officials say the department is better off with this behind them."Since we dismantled this dysfunctional crew and repopulated it with new supervision and personnel, they've been turning in work orders at record pace," said Dwight Van de Vate, engineering and public works director. "We've got good folks in place and they are getting it right."

Here's what happened.

County, NRRT to sign another contract?

I’ll have a story in tomorrow’s paper about a proposal that could lead to the county signing a new contract with Natural Resources Recovery of Tennessee. (Click right smack here for the bad boy online version.)

Although, the folks that operate NRRT aren’t calling it NRRT.

They’re calling it Nature’s Best Organics. Or something like that.

But, I don’t blame them. You know, after all the controversy and all.

That, and it could get past the Knox County Commission. Not that, that’s what they wanted to do or anything. But, a number of commissioners I talked to about the contract said they didn’t realize it was NRRT.

(The proposal before the county also asks the commission approve a contract with another green-waste intake operator as well.)

The county administration told me it hoped a bunch of companies would bid on the contract. Only two did.

And you can check out their scores by clicking right smack here.

I was curious, however, about one thing, and it didn’t make the article.

I included the following in a story I wrote back in July when the county auctioned off the Solway plant and NRRT was the highest bidder:

Interim Public Works and Engineering Director Dwight Van de Vate said Wednesday he expects any brush the county collects on its own to be taken to a 15-acre Forks of the River site, which the county owns, and "three or four times a year have a contract grinder come out and grind it." He said the materials will then be used on public facilities.

Obviously, that's probably not going to happen.

(And I didn't remember to ask Dwight about this until after I filed the story.)

So, here's his response:

We originally planned on this approach, but quickly concluded that any savings we might achieve using our own facility for green waste drop off would be offset by the time and distance issues created by using a single location, as well as the expenses involved in managing the material. It’s essentially the same reason we want the ability to use multiple vendors and multiple locations for drop off. The less time we spend transporting waste material, the more we reduce our fuel and personnel costs. Obviously that will vary depending on price, size of the load and so forth, but the more options we have, the more efficiently we operate.

Also, by using the new contract as proposed, once we drop off the material, we are done with it. This alleviates the need for us to store, grind and manage green waste. There are a whole host of issues associated with green waste storage, including risk of fire, management of runoff, and various environmental considerations. We will let the private sector deal with those, and for a price significantly less than we were previously paying (Our most recent price per ton under the old contract was $27.46).

Regardless of the reasons, some folks are going to take a PR hit for this one.

Dwight, Myretta no longer "acting"

Knox County Public Works and Engineering Director Dwight Van de Vate and county Director of Library Services Myretta Black can finally drop “interim” from their titles.

Brief history lesson: When county Mayor Tim Burchett took office last September there was a big ol' mess about severance packages, and who knew what and when, and whatever. In the end, Bruce Wuethrich (public works and engineering), Larry Frank (top dog librarian) and Susanne Dupes (communications director) quit.

The mayor then put Black in charge of the library system as acting director, and Van de Vate (former county Mayor Mike Ragsdale's chief administrative officer or something like that) over public works.

Somehow Michael “Spin Doc” Grider got Dupes' old job, but it has a different title and pay and he has to carry the chief of staff Dean “the Emperor” Rice's bags wherever he goes. (Rice also requires him to walk three steps behind him wherever they go. Kidding. Not really.)

Anyhoo, I think they mayor this afternoon finally got sick of me asking him when he'd make permanent appointments. He then said he'd call Black and Van de Vate today and let them know they could drop the “interim” label from their business cards.

Course the mayor is so cheap, I mean frugal, that he'll probably just tell them to grab a pen and cross out the title rather than order new cards.

And no, they don't get a pay raise.

Trading roads for the Beck Center

In yesterday's earth-shattering, trailblazing, groundbreaking interview with the Knox County Mayor Tim “Mag Dog” Burchett (inside joke), we talked briefly about a proposal some commissioners (mostly Sam McKenzie) have about using at least some of the additional $364,000 that went to the engineering and public works department under the administration's proposed budget and sending to the Beck Center, the KAT and commissioner slush funds.

Yeah. The mayor isn't on board with that one.

So, I got some engineering records, the to-do list, the whatever.

Here's the deal (according to interim public works director Dwight Van de Vate):

The county has about 2,000 miles of roads. About 10 percent of them need immediate resurfacing. In 2000, the department resurfaced 95 miles worth. Between 2000 and 2004, the county resurfaced about 86 miles annually. In 2005, that number dropped to 65 miles and has declined ever since. Last year, the department resurfaced about 12 miles. The proposed budget for this year calls for 17 miles of resurfacing.

Nice. No wonder the roads around here suck.

You can read Dwight's memo to the mayor and Dean “The Emperor” Rice right smack here. It also includes another 10-12 pages of street names, dollars, coin, whatever, where work needs to be done. It's actually pretty detailed. I put it up here because I know you want to read it. So, again, click right smack here.

Now, here's where we get into the interesting stuff. Dwight wrote out (hope you can read his writing) a list of streets/roads/drives that are at the top of the to-do sheet. There's 11 of them, totaling a little more than $2 million. Now, the county isn't going to do all of them. But, if ANY additional funding is sliced from the engineering department, two roads - Amberset, located the 5th District and Coppock, in the 8th District - get cut first. They cost $117,000 and $218,000, respectively.

I don't know why those two get the hangman's noose. I didn't ask. Dwight probably has some good reason.

Now if you look at that list, which you can find by clicking right here, you'll notice something else: There are no roads slated for resurfacing in the 2nd District, which Amy Broyles represents, nor in the 1st District, which Sam McKenzie represents.

Well then, apparently McKenzie has nothing to lose by cutting the engineering department's street resurfacing coin. It's not like he's getting any help.

Heh.

I'm curious, though, about what Dave Wright (8th District) and Richard “The Good Doctor” Briggs (5th District) think about the proposal. They've been usually quiet so far.

And they're the ones who could end up riding on those never-to-be-resurfaced bumpy, broke roads. Forever. Along with their constituents.

Something to chew on, I suppose.

UPDATE: Commission Vice Chairman Brad Anders pointed out to me that the reason there are no road projects in the 1st and 2nd Districts is because they are all in the city. Makes sense.

Some senior center outrage

The word I’m hearing is that some commissioners aren’t too happy with the administration’s reluctance to tell department heads how many – and which of their people – were getting laid off. I believe the number is around eight actual bodies. As noted right smack here officials weren’t informed until after the proposed budget was made public.

I’m not sure how all this will translate. The county commission on Monday (from noon to 2 p.m. at the Deathstar) will begin picking through the annual spending plan. At that time, however, they’ll be talking about schools, the sheriff’s office, the health department, and engineering and public works.

I think the school budget is pretty much set. The Man with Badge told me that he’s content with his proposal, although I know he wants some raises for his deputies (they haven’t received any in at least four years). The health department folks? I don’t know what they’ll do. And, I seriously doubt interim public works Director Dwight Van de Vate will say much, because he got hooked up this year. Or about as hooked up as the administration is going to give any department that isn’t the school system or law enforcement.

With that said (you knew this was coming, didn’t you), I talked to a resident yesterday who also is not happy about the administration keeping quiet on the layoffs.

In fact, Jean Coleman told me that she has started a petition to get the funding re-instated for a staffer over at the Frank Strang Senior Center. Apparently, they have a three-person operation over there. Come July 1 – the start of the new fiscal year – they’ll have a two-person deal if the budget is approved as proposed.

Not all the senior centers took hits, but Strang did. The largest. Almost $30,000. Here’s the link to the budget right here. The senior center numbers are on page 17, so you have to do a little scrolling.

It could get interesting. Cause, you know, seniors love to vote.