Item - 2014.AU14.7

The Audit Committee recommends that:

1.         City Council request the Chief Building Official and Executive Director, and the City Solicitor to complete the review of the Dormancy Policy.

2.         City Council request the Chief Building Official and Executive Director to take the appropriate action to develop and implement an action plan to resolve dormant permits and priority be given to those with unresolved violations.

3.         City Council request the Chief Building Official and Executive Director to review the current administrative process and the controls related to outstanding violations.  Such a process ensure that there is ongoing supervisory review of all outstanding violations.  In particular, the review should include an immediate evaluation of “unsafe orders” and, where appropriate, immediate action be taken.

4.         City Council request the Chief Building Official and Executive Director to review system controls in IBMS to ensure additional fees to building permits issued in response to a “work no permit” violation are appropriately and consistently applied.

5.         City Council request the Chief Building Official and Executive Director to ensure all inspection requests relating to construction activity are accurately recorded in the IBMS management information system.  Performance measures be developed as appropriate and based on complete inspection activity information.

6.         City Council request the Chief Building Official and Executive Director to take steps to review data categories for recording inspection results in order to ensure management information reports are reliable and useful in deploying inspectors efficiently.

7.         City Council request the Chief Building Official and Executive Director to ensure compliance with inspection documentation standards and that all inspection records are complete and reliable.

8.         City Council request the Chief Building Official and Executive Director to take steps to increase the use of remote technology for recording inspection activity while on a job site.

9.         City Council request the Chief Building Official and Executive Director to review the controls in place to ensure that revenue from partial occupancy permits is appropriately accounted for and collected.

10.       City Council request the Chief Building Official and Executive Director to review the current quality assurance process and take steps to ensure City-wide inspection practices are consistent and comply with established Divisional standards.

11.       City Council request the Chief Building Official and the Executive Director to review and formalize its training program.

The objective of this review was to identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness of building inspection services provided by Toronto Building.  The review also assessed compliance with legislative requirements as well as established Divisional policies and procedures.

Key issues identified in our report relate to the following areas:

• No inspection of 98,000 permits for over a year in 2012
• No inspection of 70 per cent of open violations
• Need to Strengthen Inspection Activity Monitoring Information
• Classification of Building Inspection Results
• Inspection Documentation is Inadequate and Inconsistent
• Quality Assurance Process Needs Improvement
• Annual Training Plan Should be Developed

This report contains 11 recommendations for improving building inspection services.  Addressing the recommendations in this report will improve the quality of building inspection services, assist the division in complying with legislative requirements and ensure City-wide practices are consistent with established policies and procedures.