Report 2015-134 Recommendation 24 Responses

Report 2015-134: Residential Building Records: The Cities of San Rafael, Novato, and Pasadena Need to Strengthen the Implementation of Their Resale Record Programs (Release Date: March 2016)

Recommendation #24 To: Novato, City of

To ensure that it conducts its resale record inspections and completes the reports in a timely manner, Novato should establish a process to monitor its ability to meet its established time goals from application date to report issuance, such as developing a reminder report or using an automated feature of its database.

6-Month Agency Response

Procedures have been established to monitor time goals for inspections and report completion (see attached under "Tracking Report"), including the creation of a field in our permit tracking system to indicate in the inspection log whether a later inspection date than the first available date was required by property owners.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

The city provided us a tracking report that identifies its timeliness in conducting inspections and issuing resale record reports.The city's database also includes an option to indicate when a property owner requested a later inspection date than the first available date.


60-Day Agency Response

City staff are considering changes in procedures for resale inspections and follow-up that will likely shorten the time a report is provided.

The City's 2016-17 proposed budget includes a combination building inspector/code enforcement officer who will assist in performing resale inspections during peak periods to reduce delays in completing reports when real estate transactions are high.

The City has created a field in its permit tracking system to indicate in the inspection log whether a later inspection date than the first available date was requested by the property owners.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending


All Recommendations in 2015-134

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.