Grand Traverse County commissioners will await the results of an RFP process to get a cost comparison on potentially outsourcing county soil erosion inspections before making any decisions about the department. The board met Wednesday night to begin reviewing potential cost-cutting and revenue-generating proposals for soil erosion, which could include privatization.

Commissioner Bob Johnson expressed early support for a proposal submitted by Director of Construction Code Bruce Remai to raise permit and inspection fees while also restructuring inspector hours to increase in the summer and decrease in the winter. Johnson said keeping the inspector positions in-house “would help greatly with morale” in the soil erosion department and noted that the local building community also strongly backed keeping the jobs within the county, even if it meant raising fees. Other commissioners also expressed interest in the proposal but wanted to see the results of the RFP process – which they asked be extended by a week to February 13 to allow for ample response time – as well as cost comparisons with other counties.

Remai and commissioners also discussed other potential restructuring options for soil erosion, including making one of the two part-time inspectors a full-time employee who could oversee the department – taking some responsibilities off Remai’s plate – or cross-training building inspectors to also perform soil erosion inspections. The latter scenario would require a financial restructuring of county departments since the two positions are paid out of separate funds right now, according to County Finance Director Dean Bott.

Commissioner Christine Maxbauer also updated the board she's in the process of putting together a committee to review the county’s soil erosion ordinance based on commissioner feedback at a January 14 meeting. Large portions of the ordinance are no longer applicable to the county after stormwater management duties were separated from soil erosion in a 2012 vote. Maxbauer indicated county commissioners and staff, local developers and representatives from the Watershed Center have all been invited to participate in the committee. The group is expected to begin work later this spring.