Cover Sheet

Reese Miller
Government Story
Consolidation could lead to drawbacks within city boards
November 11, 2014
Budget line:
The fire and building appeals board met Wednesday, Oct. 29 to discuss the possibility of
the consolidation of three boards into one. This discussion was met with controversy as to the
amount of expertise that could be provided within one board that was responsible for three
separate entities.
Sources:

Frank Haught-Vice Chair of the Building and Fire Code of Appeals Board
o
Date(s) contacted: in person 11/29/14
o
Met with him following the meeting to discuss the challenges of a consolidated board.

Michael Cannatti-member of the board

o
Date(s) contacted: In person 11/29/14
o
Talked after the meeting about his role in the board and what he would do if the boards
consolidated

Julie Kirby-Building inspections technical writer

o
Email: Julie.Kirby@austintexas.gov
o
Date(s) contacted: in person, 11/29/14, email: 10/28/14
o
Talked before the meeting about the controversy and after the meeting about exactly what
transpired

Ben Abzug-member of the board for only two months

o
Date(s) contacted: in person 11/29/14
o
Spoke after the meeting about the possibilities of him remaining on the board next year
Invisible sources/web sites used:
Heres my multimedia element, a photostory examining some of Austins buildings that will need
approval from the city boards.

Consolidation could lead to drawbacks within city boards

November 4, 2014
By: Reese Miller

The Austin City Council discussed the possibility of consolidating three distinctly different
boards the Building and Fire Code Board of Appeals, the Electrical Board, and the Mechanical
Plumbing and Solar Board into a singular, 11-member board. While this transformation would
be more efficient for the city council, it could complicate board decisions due to the lack of
expertise on individual issues.

These boards are the only three that examine technical topics such as code violations in public,
city buildings and businesses. They deal with the construction, such as electrical systems,
plumbing and mechanical systems, and the building structure. These are the only boards that
examine building codes and possible violations, as other boards handle zoning or nonconstruction issues.

Currently, the separate boards have a wide range of expertise on a narrow focus of issues. But,
that could change dramatically if the boards consolidate.

A lot of these boards are specialized, said Michael Cannatti, an Austin lawyer and Building
and Fire Code board member. That combined board would be doing the work of multiple

boards. It would need to meet more often and for longer. I dont have time to participate in that.
This one fits my workload and we only have to meet one time a month.

While time and participation in the boards is a concern, the main issue with the consolidation of
three distinctly different panels is the quality and quantity of different perspective and wisdom,
or lack thereof, which would appear on the 11-member, conjoined forum.

I think the challenge is our expertise, said Vice Chair Frank Haught. Our expertise is in
building and in fire, then you have the other boards and they have their own expertise.

Currently, there is a wide variety of knowledge and real-world experience on the Fire and
Building Code Board of Appeals. There are two architects, a former firefighter, a fire protection
engineer, a lawyer and a construction businessperson.

The nice thing about our board is we all have a chance to give our opinion and insight,
Cannatti said. Sometimes well meet twice a month until we get these things sorted out.

There are advantages to combining the separate boards. The consolidation would directly benefit
city officials and employees, as they would only be responsible for one board as opposed to three
and could focus more of their time on actual city council business. However, the board members
would have more work on their hands and would likely have to delve into decisions that used to
fall on the other separate boards.

While the city council has not yet approved changing the board format, they did allow a change
of the current seven-member board format to 11 to reflect the number of representatives on the
council.

On Oct. 29, only four of the current seven member Building and Fire Code Board could attend
their meeting. The board needs a majority of the members present to conduct business. This
could become increasingly problematic with an 11-member board because it would require six
present members to conduct business.

I suspect well have a tough time getting more than seven members, said Frank Haught, the
vice chair of the board and former fire protection engineer. Hopefully we can find enough
qualified applicants.

In terms of transitioning the current boards from seven to eleven members, there are more
complications than simply finding enough qualified appointees.

Another challenge is that there are many eligible people that live outside the district [and
therefore cannot be appointed], Haught said.

If the three boards consolidate, very few current board members could partake in the combined
board because the new board would need people with different focuses. In fact, there may be a
lack of experts on certain issues and there would be limited perspective on topics because there
would likely be three or four experts per topic. For instance, there may only be two solar experts

on the conjoined board who could provide proper insight on solar issues. Meanwhile, the rest of
the board might not have the proper qualifications to give their opinion on board business. If the
solar experts couldnt attend that meeting, the board wouldnt be able to make a proper decision,
and the appeal may drag on for months.

Austin would not be the first city to make a major change in city board format. San Antonio has
consolidated into a 17-member board that handles all technical issues. However, some Austinites
are not sure that type of change would be beneficial in Austin.

With the amount of business and the exponential growth in Austin, do you really want to have
limited expertise and specific knowledge in that field, asked Ben Abzug, who was attending his
second board meeting. Youre not going to get that. They may have knowledge but it would just
be so random in my opinion. But maybe it works out.