By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Somerville’s Inspectional Services Department provides critical services to our community as an extension of our public safety departments. Whether ensuring that construction meets code and buildings are safe for people, maintaining our quality of life by enforcing important regulations for everything from trash disposal to snow removal, or holding restaurants to high standards of cleanliness and food preparation, ISD is on the frontline when it comes to our community’s safety and health. Because these functions are so critical, five years ago I sought an independent examination of ISD by consultant Zucker Systems that detailed where the department needed reform. Since then and especially since the arrival of ISD Director Goran Smiljic, the department has made significant progress in addressing the areas detailed in that independent report. Upsetting the status quo naturally always leads to some criticism, and we welcome constructive criticism that helps us identify where we need to do more. That said, I want to set the record straight on some of the anonymous criticism that has appeared in the Times, and lay out the facts about ISD’s performance today.

Some of the criticism makes claims about long waits for permit approvals, allegedly stretching beyond 30 or 60 days. While it’s impossible to address specific claims without knowing the details and circumstances of a particular case, I can go to the data thanks to the CitizenServe software system, which we introduced in 2014 to make tracking of applications, inspections, and issued permits easier. The data clearly shows that 80 percent of permits are issued within 14 days of the application. Broken down, it’s 22 percent issued within one day, 38 percent within two to seven days, and 20 percent within eight to 14 days. In other words, four out of every five permits applied for are issued within two weeks.

Larger, more complex applications take longer for a permit to be issued—there’s naturally more work to do, and sometimes additional reports and materials are needed to determine that the project is safe. Also, sometimes applicants do not submit all the required documentation, such as licenses or insurance certificates, needed to process an application in a timely fashion. While other communities may be content to allow permits to be issued based on familiarity with the applicant, that’s not the way we do things in Somerville today.

Part of the process in streamlining and modernizing ISD to make it more predictable, reliable and efficient includes ensuring that proper procedure is followed—from ISD inspections, to zoning review, to Fire Department review, and so on. Nobody gets a free pass because again, ISD is on the frontline of public safety and health, and we will not risk either of those in the name of speed. Still, for the one out of every five permits that take longer than two weeks, the breakdown is: 8 percent issued within 15 to 21 days, 3 percent within 22 to 28 days, and 9 percent taking more than 28 days. So, less than one out of every 10 permits is taking longer than four weeks for approval. And, again, these applications tend to have complicating factors.

Not only are permits being handled carefully and with due speed, by replacing a slow and antiquated paper-based permit system with CitizenServe software, ISD can now easily track every permit application from start to finish, multiple City departments can review construction plans simultaneously, and applicants can now submit applications, documents and payments online, instead of having to go in person to City Hall and ISD, which could slow the process. Today, our inspectors have switched out pens for tablets, putting all the documentation they need at their fingertips in the field. Again, moving to digital upends the status quo, and that always leads to some criticism, but we’ll gladly accept that criticism in return for ensuring that permits go through the full, necessary process before approval as efficiently and transparently as possible.

Meanwhile, as ISD improves to meet our rigorous standards, the department is taking on even more work. Before we hired a new code enforcement officer dedicated to dumpster inspections, in September 2013, only 177 dumpsters were properly licensed with the City. Today, 652 dumpsters are licensed and ISD can now better track and inspect them, with 663 inspections completed since Jan. 1—a critical component of our comprehensive rodent control efforts that, according to the data, are working. In the spring, we found that the number of rat sightings in Somerville statistically diverged from the number in Boston, and we are cautiously optimistic that the 36 percent decrease in rodent sightings is proof this approach is working. You can thank ISD for playing a critical role in that.

The number of building permits (up 4 percent since FY13), food inspections (up 24 percent) and temporary food permits (up 115 percent) are all increasing, a sign our city continues to grow. From July 1 to Oct. 31 this year alone, ISD has received 2,058 building, plumbing and electrical permit applications. But ISD has kept up. To meet increasing demand, in the past two years, we’ve added full-time electrical, plumbing and food inspectors and two junior clerks, and this year’s budget includes an additional building inspector as well. As also recommended in the Zucker report, our ISD inspectors now also wear professional uniforms and building inspectors are assigned by ward, ensuring consistency and thorough work on every application from start to finish.

So again, the department is handling more work, more efficiently, with measurable positive results and documented turnaround times that meet or exceed standards. This type of institutional change is usually slow going and difficult, but under the leadership and hard work of Director Goran Smiljic, these improvements have come swiftly with the support of the dedicated employees of ISD who have embraced change in the name of accurate, courteous and easy customer service. Our public safety and health depend on them and they have risen to the challenge of serving you better. Mr. Smiljic has engendered an environment where he and his staff are also responsive to feedback and criticism. There are a number of other inaccuracies recently published by the Times that could have been easily cleared up with a few phone calls. We encourage anyone with a concern to let us know so that we can address it or clear up any confusion.

However, some of the anonymous statements in the Times are simply not based on fact. A Google search by a journalist could have easily cleared up that Mr. Smiljic—an engineer by training—did not come from another city in Massachusetts but Utica, NY, where he worked for 13 years; CitizenServe was never used in Cambridge; and, no, the Planning staff is not happy when there are delays in permitting. Without specifics, we can’t validate if individual cases referenced were accurately represented. But what’s most important here is not that the facts of those complaints were not verified, but whether ISD is providing professional, rigorous services to protect our property and our people. And they are.

For City services like ISD, both praise and criticism of our work must be aired publicly if we are to stay true to the fundamental principles of openness and transparency we’ve committed to. We embrace that. And we will gladly review and address any concerns. We are always willing to listen to how we can improve, and we always make those decisions based on what the data and the facts tell us. Those facts tell us that ISD has made exponential progress in a short period of time, bringing itself into the 21st century, and that the residents of our community are safer and are more quickly served because of it. If anyone has a concern with an individual application or issue though, by all means, give us a call. ISD is on it.