WestCon Tribune

February 2005

February News

NEW MEMBERS

Westcon are pleased to announce the following new members accepted by the Board of Directors at the January meeting:

Jim Duval, Owner of Duval Construction is located out of El Cerrito. Mr. Duval's expertise is in concrete and structural specialties as well as foundation replacement.

Donley Construction Consultants has brought two new members to the group; John Donley, Senior Construction Consultant and Rick Nero, Senior Architectural Consultant. Donley Construction Consultants focuses on identifying, defining, analyzing and solving construction design and property disputes. Their technical experience covers a wide range of project types including schools, multi-family housing, single family housing, hospitals, commercial and industrial projects. They offer litigation, consulting and management services for residential, public and commercial construction projects.

Roy Swearingen, President of Swearingen Systems, Inc., is located in Richmond. Mr, Swearingen has many years in the business of HVAC-Sheet Metal, metal buildings and metal roofing. Mr. Swearingen performs roof inspections and does repair estimating on construction defect cases.

Builders Win Legal Battles Against Cities Overcharging on Inspection Fee

In California, the law requires public agencies to charge only what it costs to provide plan check and inspection services for home builders. Then they must show how they have spent it.

According to an article in the November 2004 issue of Automated Builder, the County of Orange has collected a surplus of $18.5 million dollars since 2001, proving that the fees and inspection costs were illegally high, prompting law suits by builders. A September ruling by the courts said that the County must turn over financial documents related to the surplus.

In a 2001 ruling, the judge appointed a Special Master to sort out the financial details.

After some ÒstonewallingÓ, the Special Master got his information and he found the county had gone on a shopping binge, using the money to buy a fleet of new SUV's and a new $7million computer system. The county also increased what it took from this special fund in administrative charges from about $1 million to $5 million a year. The result of all of the spending, according to county officials, was a deficit, not a surplus, and fees would have to be raised.

The information obtained prompted the Planning Department into the layoffs of 39 workers, early retirement of the Director and the eventual firing of the Executive Officer.

In earlier cases, it was shown where cities were using cost schedules created by an international trade group that was overstating the expenses to provide plan check and inspection services by as much as 500%. Dick McCarthy, of the Paladin Group in Palm Springs, has been working to make counties follow the laws. According to the LA Times, the city of San Marcos lowered fees from $3150 to $750, after he was able to prove that inspectors were not spending the time on the job sites to justify the charge. A case against Murrieta was Settled in 1999 after officials admitted that the city's method of calculating fees was unreliable, Inaccurate and  improper. The fees went from $1,300 to $488. In Murrieta, another plaintiff, home builder Barratt American, used its settlement to refund overcharged homeowners more than $250,000.

As the result of the fee challenges, nearby cities are charging a fraction of what the County of Orange charges for the same service, further indication that the County is overcharging.

Walt MacNeill, an attorney representing Barratt and McCarthy says, "These are straightforward cases using straightforward laws that the cities are reluctant to obey. They are using every tactic they can to preserve their right to charge higher fees and drive up the cost of housing."

SYMPOSIUM

Westcon is starting to prepare for their next Symposium planned for later this year. If you are interested in participating or assisting, please contact Chris Nelson (925) 356-7770.

IDEAS? If you would like to give a presentation to Westcon, or have ideas or topics you would like discussed, please notify Fred Field, Program Director at (415) 485–5882. All suggestions are welcome!

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