Thomas Breen photo
On the job at a Chapel Street construction site.
A city plumbing inspector is rising the ranks to become New Haven’s next top building official — as the department he’ll run continues to struggle to hire enough inspectors to meet the demands of the city’s construction boom for sub-suburban pay.
According to the April 14 weekly city personnel report, starting May 1, current city Plumbing Inspector Robert Dillon will take on the role of building official / director of the Office of Building Inspection & Enforcement.
He’ll step into that job four months after longtime former Building Official Jim Turcio retired at the end of December to take a new top building inspector job in Meriden. Building Deputy Bob Walsh has filled in since then as the interim head of the department.
According to city spokesperson Lenny Speiller, Dillon has worked for the City of New Haven since 2017. In addition to serving as plumbing inspector, Dillon also works as the department’s chief mechanical inspector. Speiller said some of the recent major local projects Dillon has worked on include Yale’s two new residential colleges and the ongoing renovation of the Peabody Museum.
“Bob Dillon brings a wealth of hands-on expertise and industry knowledge to the job and has been a great asset to the Office of Building Inspection and Enforcement and to the City, drawing from over 20 years’ experience and leadership in the construction industry,” Mayor Justin Elicker said in a comment provided to the Independent for this article. “Bob knows New Haven and has been deeply involved in some of the City’s largest projects and he’s also worked on significant projects across the state as well.”
During a Thursday night budget workshop hosted by the Board of Alders Finance Committee in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall, Walsh joined Deputy Economic Development Administrator Carlos Eyzaguirre and City Budget Director Michael Gormany to talk through just how challenging and demanding of a time it is for the department amid a years-long surge in new construction. They also spoke about a high rate of turnover among city inspectors seeking early-career experience in New Haven, and then better pay in the ‘burbs. (Dillon, who is away from the office through May 1, did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article.)
According to the mayor’s proposed $662.7 million general fund budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, the Building Department’s general fund budget is looking to increase by around $213,000, from $1,274,880 to $1,488,755.
The department is expected to bring in $15 million in building inspection- and permit-related revenue, which is the same amount as budgeted for the current fiscal year.
“The Building Department brings in a ton of permit revenue for the city,” Gormany told the alders. “That is one of our main local revenue sources.”
Walsh stressed that, for any ribbon cutting or groundbreaking or construction site New Haveners see, Building Department inspector work goes into making sure that site is safe and built properly.
Gormany added that the only significant proposed change to the department’s budget this year is an extra $200,000 to put towards hiring part-time inspectors.
“Are we willing to go higher if we have to?” Morris Cove Alder Sal DeCola asked about that part-time inspector budget. “There’s a war going on right now” among municipalities seeking qualified building inspectors.
“I don’t want our city to be hurt” by paying less for inspectors, DeCola continued. “Mr. Walsh has his hands full” as it is with all the new construction taking place around town.
In response to a similar question about part-time-inspector pay from East Rock Alder Anna Festa, Gormany said he’d have to “look at the hourly rate,” but he believes that the $200,000 extra for part-timers in the budget would pay for four inspectors over the course of the year. There is a “high demand” for these types of certified workers, he said. “It is a higher hourly wage classification, even though it it’s part time.”
Thomas Breen photo
Now Interim Building Official Bob Walsh using one of the department's smart boards.
Walsh agreed. “There is a high demand for inspectors” right now. He said that Stratford recently posted an inspector job at a salary of $85,000 and use of a town car, and they got seven applicants. New Haven had a similar job open at a salary of $63,000 — and didn’t get a single application in 18 months.
“We’re too far behind,” he said. “We can’t compete.”
He also said that the department has lost a total of six inspectors over the past four years, and that four of his current colleagues have part-time jobs in addition to their full-time work in New Haven. “On Tuesdays, I have 2.5 field inspectors” on the job because one of his colleagues takes vacation days on Tuesdays to work his other job.
Walsh described a pattern in recent years of inspectors earlier on in their career taking jobs in New Haven, spending a few years building up their resume, and then leaving for better paying work elsewhere. “It’s a revolving door,” he said. And doubly concerning because some of the new construction going on in New Haven is quite complicated, like Yale New Haven Health’s new neuroscience center and hospital expansion at the St. Raphael’s campus on Chapel Street.
“I can’t have entry level [workers] inspecting hospital” construction sites, he said. “I’m very concerned about the experience we have behind me.” When he started in the Building Department 23 years ago, there were plenty of people ahead of him who had 15, 20 years on the job. “I’m the old guy now. And I want to have a good team behind me.”
Asked after the meeting for further comment about the importance of the city’s Building Department during the ongoing local construction boom, the mayor provided the following statement: “New Haven is a growing city with new and updated residential and commercial properties coming online every week and many more in the pipeline, and OBIE plays a critical role in administering the necessary permits for homeowners, contractors, and developers and ensuring the construction of safe, high-quality homes and buildings that adhere to the appropriate local and state codes. In Fiscal Year 2022 alone, OBIE issued over 4,000 permits and generated over $15.5 million in revenue, and the City has led the state in housing permits issued every year since 2020.
“New Haven is a place where people and businesses want to be, and Bob and the OBIE team play an important role in helping to support and facilitate the City’s continued growth and development.”