Tompkins County, NEW YORK
Building Code Administration and Operations Study

Laberge Group was retained by Tompkins County to develop a Building Code Administration and Operations Study designed to assess opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness by sharing code administration services in a collaborative manner among the County’s 17 municipalities. While building and energy codes were the primary focus of the study, the workgroup – which was comprised of the Laberge Group team, County planners, code administration / enforcement officials, and municipal leaders – also sought opportunities to improve administration and enforcement of other regulations (including enforcing stormwater regulations, zoning, and other local regulations) as they were identified in discussions with municipalities.

A collaborative study development process was developed and implemented to establish trust and foster support while also providing the strongest possible environment for gathering data, discussing opportunities, understanding obstacles, and ultimately devising strategies and implementation tactics for shared code administration. This active engagement of stakeholders and municipal leaders included committee meetings as well as interviews and roundtables conducted with code enforcement staff, chief elected officials, planning department directors, municipal sustainability directors, and representatives from select county departments. This process also included dynamic roundtable sessions with community stakeholders who regularly interact with building code within the county.

The next phase of the project will entail summarizing the current state of operations; identifying emerging internal and external trends; describing community and organizational outcomes; and identifying themes related to stakeholder identified challenges and opportunities. Based on these findings, the Laberge Group team will establish a series of options for government efficiency initiatives to address service gaps, improve service delivery, improve health and safety outcomes, increase operational efficiencies, and reduce net costs. The suggested strategies may entail shared services, collaboration, and/or consolidation between various governmental entities.