Meck County manager’s review of Code Enforcement takes new steps

CHARLOTTE –Mecklenburg County manager Dena Diorio is hiring a consultant to assist in her office’s review of county code enforcement‘s operations and quality-control systems.

That was one of four developments announced last week in an update on Diorio’s effort to respond to construction industry complaints that code enforcement – the division of the county’s Land Use and Environmental Services Agency that reviews building plans, issues permits and conducts inspections – could operate more efficiently.

Assistant County Manager Leslie Johnson and LUESA Director Ebenezer Gujjarlapudi told the Board of County Commissioners on March 4 that the following three actions are also being taken:

• The Building Development Commission, code enforcement’s advisory oversight board, has created a committee of industry representatives and BDC members to evaluate the agency.

• Code enforcement is creating a new customer service center that will operate on code enforcement’s website and in its Uptown offices in the Hal Marshall Building, both of which are being redesigned to try to improve efficiency.

• And a series of new focus groups, whose members are construction industry stakeholders, will review the development and building-permitting processes that require both the county and city of Charlotte agencies to be involved.

The county manager’s report on code enforcement’s operations is expected to be completed by October, Johnson and Gujjarlapudi said.