Consolidation Led To Increased Effectiveness

By EDWARD L. KIPLEY, JR., Mayor
Village of Riverdale

One place to accept complaint calls. One place for inspectors to report. Consolidation of all village inspections was the goal.

In May 1989, the Village of Riverdale's Mayor, Edward L. Kipley, Jr. formed the Riverdale Inspectional Services. Now, one year later, the inspectors go on approximately 70 hours of calls during the week.

In the past the Fire Department handled all fire inspections and the Building and Grounds Committee was in charge of building, plumbing, electrical, health and zoning inspections.

"I wanted to take it out of Building and Grounds because it did not belong there. Fire and housing inspections go hand-in-hand."

Inspectional Services is composed of 3 building, 3 fire, a plumbing, an electrical, a health inspector and a zoning administrator. All of which report to the fire chief, who acts as the Building Commissioner. As complaint calls come in, they are directed to the fire department, logged, then passed over to the appropriate inspector. An average of 80 calls come in during the week. In the Summer, 20 to 25 calls are received per day.

The RIS has staff meetings every Wednesday. The conferences work very well to give the inspectors a chance to meet face to face, discussing problems of the week and keeping everyone working toward the same goal.

The reorganization was done to improve the quality of life in Riverdale by reducing the Insurance Service Office rating and making sure the residents of Riverdale are meeting the codes and ordinances set by the Village.

Goals are re-established every March 1. Problem areas to be targeted and task force areas to be blitzed for code complaints are formed for the year.

To increase coverage of the Village, RIS began working with the Riverdale Housing Authority. The Housing Authority set up a Volunteer Maintenance Inspectors program. They coordinate and educate residents on the codes of the Village. Walk by inspections are done by the volunteers. They look for violations and leave reminder notes for the homes with minor problems like downspouts that are not disconnected or missing rear addresses. Major compliance violations are turned over to the Inspectional Services.

"Due to the size of Riverdale (13,000) a personal relationship is maintained between the inspectors and the residents. Inspectors are instructed to talk to the residents about a complaint." •

August 1990 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 19