17 - Amend Residency Requirement for Building Board of Appeals

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Item No. 17 Memorandum TO: Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council Grayson Path, City Manager FROM: Andrew Mack, AICP Director Planning & Community Development Duke McGee, Building Official SUBJECT: Consider and Adopt Amendment to the City Code Removing a Residency Requirement for Council Appointment to the Building Board of Appeals DATE: April 24, 2023 BACKGROUND The newly adopted updates for the 2021 ICC Building and Fire Codes, including the local amendments created a conflict with the current City Code Section 4.02.002 (a) which requires that: "The appointed members shall be residents ofor own or operate businesses located ivithin the city and shall not be employees cif the city." This required residency provision for appointment by the City Council to this board conflicts with the newly adopted 2021 Codes best practices which is not based upon a residency requirement, but rather upon training and qualifications within the specific technical area(s) of expertise. Community Development and Fire Department Staff believe that certain qualifications under these required duties, roles and responsibilities will be very difficult to find from within the City of Paris corporate boundary. There is a concern with being able to 1) find the full slate of required professionals needed to fill this Board living within Paris and 2) the lack of there being many professionals in a certain field may create instances of conflict of interests. A specific example from the newly adopted International Building Code (IBC) cites as follows: Section B 101.3.6 states: "A member with any personal, professional or financial interest in a matter before the board shall declare such interest and refrain from participating in discussions, deliberations and voting on such matters." The concern regarding this safeguard relates back to the qualifications of the Building Board of Appeals appointments requiring that they have professional experience, training, licensing and expertise in the various trades. The attached amendment will make all references to this residency requirement consistent within both documents and give us the greatest chance of filling these positions with candidates having the required qualifications. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends approval of the ordinance amendment to the City Code removing a residency requirement for Council Appointment to the Building Board of Appeals.