Muskegon commissioners split over building-inspection contract; staff recommendation for Safe Built fails after debate over revenue share

MUSKEGON — The City of Muskegon’s bid to select a vendor for building-inspection and plan-review services ended without a commission majority on Nov. 25 after more than an hour of presentations and questioning.

Chief Tim Kozel and a staff review team summarized responses to the city’s RFQ and recommended continuing with Safe Built, the incumbent contractor, citing municipal experience, recent responsiveness and quarterly reporting. McKenna (a firm introduced by John Jackson) and a county proposal also bid; McKenna’s representative acknowledged a pricing error in its initial submission but stated McKenna would honor a more favorable fee schedule that substantially reduced the vendor’s share of building-fee revenue for larger projects.

Commissioners pressed staff on how fees are split for very large multi-parcel developments (for example Shaw Walker and Windward Point), how permits aggregate by parcel for fee-tier purposes, and which portion of fees flow into the city’s general fund. Chief Kozel described Safe Built’s current tiered fee-split model (roughly an 82.5% retain for the vendor on most permits with incremental reductions for larger permit values) and noted Safe Built charges a retainer for certain rental‑housing program services that McKenna proposed to roll into permit billing.

Multiple commissioners said that while Safe Built’s customer service record has improved over the past year — and staff credited that improvement — McKenna’s pricing dynamics could yield materially more revenue back to the city on very large developments. Vice Mayor St. Clair and Mayor Johnson abstained from the award vote citing insufficient time to vet fiscal projections; Commissioner Cochin voted no. The roll call produced three yes votes (Commissioners Gorman, Kilgo and German), one no, and two abstentions; the motion to award Safe Built therefore failed.

After the vote, staff and the manager agreed to prepare concrete comparative revenue projections using recent permit histories and to discuss them at the city’s Legislative Policy Committee (LPC) meeting on Monday so commissioners could revisit possible action on Dec. 9. Chief Kozel said a rapid transition could create short-term service gaps and urged caution about switching vendors immediately given ongoing large projects.

What’s next: Staff will produce a comparative fiscal analysis of the two leading proposals (Safe Built and McKenna) for review at LPC; commissioners may decide on Dec. 9 whether to proceed with an award or defer further.

Representative quote: "We were strongly recommending Safe Built number two," Chief Tim Kozel said, summarizing staff's evaluation. Vice Mayor Saint Clair said she did not feel she "had all of the information to make an informed decision tonight."