Posted on: Thursday, June 24, 2004

Permit sites 'overwhelmed'

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

The city failed to properly prepare for and support changes meant to make it easier for residents and businesses to obtain building permits at new "one-stop" centers, according to an audit released yesterday.

"Despite technical improvements and existence of a hard-working and dedicated staff, the permit centers have not resulted in the projected efficiency and effectiveness improvements," the report by City Auditor Leslie Tanaka states.

People applying for permits often line up at dawn outside the Department of Planning and Permitting, and many applicants wait in line for four hours or more.

Workers were not properly trained to process permits using an automated tracking system, and were "overwhelmed" by data input requirements, according to the report, the second produced by the auditor's office since it was created through a 2002 amendment to the City Charter.

The permit centers have suffered from high staff turnover that leaves them shorthanded, with a heavy workload and poor morale hampering those who remain, the report says.

Department director Eric Crispin said in a written response that the audit contained errors and was "highly biased and unbalanced," and that efficiency has improved.

The annual number of permits issued has surged from 14,000 to 18,000 over the past three years, while the number of workers decreased from 259 to 226, he said.

The one-stop centers "are a vast improvement in the delivery of permit processing over the previous dispersed and fragmented system," according to Crispin.

He said the "tone and characterization" of the audit "is hurtful and demoralizing to the hard-working and dedicated staff."

Crispin said planning and assessing personnel requirements had been "more than adequate," but that "Honolulu's depressed economy at that time dictated budget and staff cuts."

"What could not be foreseen was the large amount of loss in the senior staff (through retirement), coupled with a building industry boom," according to Crispin. "This provided an unusual opportunity for the existing counter staff to apply for and obtain promotions, but because of fiscal restraints, immediate replacements were not possible."

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.