Council will keep permitting in-house for now after MetroWest meeting; Safe Built deemed too costly

Councilors and staff reviewed permitting arrangements and said they will continue to partner with MetroWest but monitor performance and require follow-up. Several participants described a recent meeting with MetroWest in which the vendor acknowledged earlier problems and agreed to work on improvements.

Staff said the city evaluated contracting with Safe Built but concluded it would not be financially justified this year given permit volume. "For the amount that we were gonna be paying for 80 permits, it just didn't seem justifiable at the time," a staff member said. The group agreed to revisit outsourcing only if permit counts become consistently higher.

During the exchange staff asked MetroWest to provide a contract for review: the staff member said MetroWest could not locate a modern signed contract in its files, citing a 1987 packet with signatures and an historical revenue-sharing statement; current payments to MetroWest were said to be 50% under current practice while the older packet referenced 85%. The staffer asked MetroWest to draft a contract for review and recommended periodic check-ins to catch problems early.

Council did not take formal action on contracts at this meeting but asked staff to seek a MetroWest contract and report back.