Grand Traverse County commissioners voted Wednesday night to raise county soil erosion inspection and permit fees and hire at least one more part-time inspector for the department.

Commissioners have been evaluating options to cut costs and/or raise revenues in soil erosion, including reviewing the possibility of outsourcing inspections. Contracting firm Associated Government Services (AGS) gave a presentation Wednesday night on taking over all county inspections, including both soil erosion and building codes.

But several commissioners expressed skepticism about privatizing inspections county-wide, and also voiced concerns over the upcoming retirement of soil erosion inspector Pete Bruski, which will leave the department with just one part-time inspector at the end of this month. "The citizens of this county are going to suffer if we can't decide what to do (about inspections)," said Commissioner Dr. Bob Johnson. County officials were contacted by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Wednesday about the looming staffing shortage and reminded that the DEQ can conduct audits of staffing plans – what County Administrator Dave Benda called a “veiled threat” to not allow the department to become understaffed.

Based on those developments, commissioners authorized Director of Construction Code Bruce Remai to immediately begin advertising for another part-time soil erosion inspector. They also approved Remai’s proposal to restructure staffing time so hours increased during the upcoming busy season and decreased in the off-season. The board also approved raising county soil erosion permit and inspection fees, which internal reports have shown are significantly below market rate. Under the new rate structure, most residential (or category 3) permit fees will increase from $113 to $200, while most commercial (or category 4) fees will increase from $275 to $400.