Building department reports faster permitting, new facilities manager and training gains

The Gardner City building and zoning official told the Safety Committee on April 24 that inspectional staffing is now full and recent process changes have sped permitting and inspections.

"Building and zoning are now fully staffed on the inspectional side," the official said, adding that a revised permitting workflow reduced review timelines from about three weeks to same‑week for small projects and about one week for larger ones, while same‑day or next‑day inspections are now more common. The official reported roughly 600 permits so far this year.

The official noted training gains: one inspector passed two of three local inspector exams and is participating in state onboarding and zoning training. The official said that cooperation with Zoning Board chairman Raymond Lafond is helping to streamline the zoning application experience.

On facilities, the department recently hired a facilities maintenance manager, Jesse, who is developing a comprehensive plan for city‑hall operations and checking vacant and abandoned properties more often to broaden the facilities role beyond city hall.

Committee members asked for the new manager’s job description; the official said staff would email the description for review. No formal committee votes or zoning decisions occurred during the update.