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1095 <br />Regular Council Megp 'i g <br />March 22,'2010- <br />Page 2 <br />inquired of Mr. Harting the number of houses he had built over the last two years in the city and <br />in the county. Mr. Haning responded that he had not built any. Mr. Haning also said that the <br />city needed local people and that they needed to speed up the process. Mr. Haning went on to <br />say that the city should stay with BV through the end of the Paris High School Project. Johnny <br />Exum with Exum Plumbing, said his main concern was the amount of money it was costing the <br />tax payers to keeping BV. Council Member Biard asked Kevin Carruth if the city could do as <br />good of a job as Bureau Veritas, but with less expense. Mr. Carruth said that he was not <br />advocating either way, but he did know that the city could not operate in the way that it had in <br />the past. He specifically pointed out that in the past the city had not been doing plan reviews. <br />Shawn Napier reflected on the problems that occurred during and after the building of LaQuinta, <br />as a result of not doing plan reviews. <br />Council Member Biard said the thought they should look at the option of doing in -house <br />residential and small commercial jobs, while possibly contracting the bigger jobs to a third party. <br />Shawn Napier said that the city had lost a lot of experience in the last year, due to the number of <br />employees who sought employment with other entities. Mr. Napier stated that he currently had <br />several employees in the process of learning and testing to become a plumbing inspector and a <br />plan reviewer. Council Member Biard complimented BV on their work, but said he thought they <br />needed to keep the process in- house. Mayor Freelen said he wanted to look at the option of <br />posting jobs in order to determine the different types of skill level available to the city. Mr. <br />Carruth expressed concern about recruitment, if it was uncertain whether or not there was a job <br />opening. Mayor Freelen said he thought the long term goal should be to have in -house <br />employees to perform inspections. City Council discussed this option at length. Council <br />Member Brown said they may have to look at moving forward with hiring employees and <br />continue the contract with Bureau Veritas for a period of time. He said they could address the <br />cost at budget time. <br />C.J. Fillingham, Project Manager for the new high school, told City Council the high <br />school was scheduled to be completed by July 31St. He also said there was another four to five <br />million dollars worth of projects on other P.I.S.D. campuses. Mr. Fillingham complimented BV <br />in their prompt responses to the school project. He said that Lee Swaim always answered his <br />phone calls with the exception of twice, and both times Mr. Swaim returned his call within thirty <br />minutes. <br />Mayor Freelen told Ty Chapman and Lee Swaim that they had done a good job, but that <br />Paris was a rural area and needed in -house employees. Council Member Rogers said another <br />option would be to go out for bids. Council Member Biard said he did not believe it to be so <br />much a money issue, but more of a city issue. <br />No action was taken on this matter. It was scheduled for the regular meeting on Monday, <br />th <br />April 12 <br />