Webster City seeks to improve building inspections
A long history of revolving door inspectors has impacted the community
It’s easy to hear the frustration in Ariel Bertran’s voice when she describes the City of Webster City’s challenges in providing one of the most basic of city services: administration of building codes.
“Webster City is committed to fostering development, but turnover in our building inspection department has disrupted development,” she said recently. “We need a more reliable and supportive building inspection framework for our local contractors and property developers.”
Fine words, but how do you do it every day for every customer, and every project?
For now, the city’s answer is to hire the consulting firm Veenstra & Kimm of West Des Moines.
Doesn’t the city have a building inspector on staff?
According to Bertran, development director for the City of Webster City, it’s gone through five in-house building inspectors since 2016. After working with Polk City-based Safe Building LLC in 2023 and part of 2024, V&K was retained to provide building permitting and inspection services.
The lack of continuity over the years has caused uncertainty and confusion for contractors, builders and property developers, simply trying to complete work for their clients.
Commenting on the situation, City Manager John Harrenstein said, “It’s time we stabilized our permitting and inspections service to provide consistency to builders and homeowners.”
You’ve probably heard your contractor talk about “code” when remodeling your kitchen or bathroom, but what does it mean?
Bertran, whose responsibility includes managing building codes in Webster City, explained the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code is in force here. The code, actually made up of 10 separate codes, establishes minimum standards for structural, sanitation, ventilation, lighting and fire safety, and is in use across the United States.
At Monday night’s City Council meeting, Jason Van Ausdall, a certified building official with V&K, who, with others, is doing the actual inspection work in Webster City, talked about his firm’s approach to code enforcement and building inspections.
He stressed V&K is enforcing the minimum standards called for under the codes, as he says it does in 32 other Iowa cities where it operates.
“We’ve been hired to enforce your adopted building codes; no more, no less,” he told the council on Monday.
V&K will have a qualified building inspector in Webster City two days a week: Tuesdays and Thursdays. The city’s contract with the firm, though, also requires V&K to respond whenever an urgent inspection is required, such as when concrete pouring is scheduled. V&K also maintains a “contractor’s hotline” for use by the building trades when immediate assistance from, as Ausdall noted, “a live person,” is required.
Van Ausdall will host a contractor’s meeting in Webster City, at a location to be announced, on Thursday, November 14, at 10 a.m. He said the meeting “won’t be long, and won’t get out of control. We’re here to work with local people to get your projects done.”
The city maintains a “permit center” on its website, allowing permit applications to be applied for online, but it knows some contractors don’t find it always suits their needs. In those cases and for builders and contractors who just need to talk to someone at City Hall about a project, Bertran said, “our staff will assist residents at the front desk with building permits and inspections.”
Harrenstein reinforced this, saying, “. . . our staff at City Hall will continue to provide the hometown touch, when residents come to City Hall for permits and licenses.”
A succession of incidents in the last two years shows that better building inspection procedures are needed in Webster City, especially in commercial buildings downtown.
In December 2022 a sign went up in front of Mornin’ Glory coffee shop advising patrons to enter at their own risk. The city considered the building unsafe, possibly due to it sharing a wall with an adjacent building at 721 Des Moines Street. Ultimately, 721 Des Moines was torn down, and the site is now a vacant lot.
In August 2023 the City Council of Webster City voted to buy two downtown buildings declared unsafe that month by the city’s building inspector — 547 Second Street and 612 Willson Avenue — after the building’s owners failed to make necessary repairs. More than a year later, the buildings remain vacant. The previous owners have until November 21, 2024, to remove any property belonging to them that remains in either building. Following that, the city will have a structural engineer survey the main building to determine its stability, and whether or not it can be restored. The final alternative would be to demolish the buildings altogether.
Only three months later, a November 2023 fire at 608 Second Street destroyed the interior of the Webster Theater next door. Extensive smoke and water damage means the theater auditorium had to be completely rebuilt before reopening. A firm reopening date has not been announced.
A month later, in December 2023, All Cultures Equal moved to new quarters at 637 Second Street downtown to be nearer to its clients. A short time later, patrons of the facility were required to use the back door when bricks fell from the building’s Second Street facade. Repointing of second story brickwork, taking several months, had to be completed before the building’s main Second Street doors could again be used.
As a result of the failures of these brick buildings, the City Council has taken steps to return commercial structures back to the city’s property maintenance codes. Research for this article by The Daily Freeman-Journal did not discover when and why commercial buildings were exempted in the first place, but the revised statutes give the city greater leverage in ensuring the buildings remain safe in the future.
Calling for cooperation from builders, contractors, the city, V&K, and the public, Harrenstein said, “I believe we’re on a good path here providing professional service, with a local touch at City Hall, and plenty of staff to handle local matters.”