Dallas leaders called for further improvements in the city’s construction department after a briefing this week revealed extreme delays in answering phones.
Recently elected councilor Paul Ridley said builders need to know the phone delays are better in order for them to keep calling Dallas.
“The most worrying thing is that they are leaving Dallas to develop in other cities,” said Ridley.
Home builder Alan Hoffman just finished a $ 900,000 home in northeast Dallas, but he said it took months longer than expected and cost more, at least in part due to delays with the construction department.
“That really puts Dallas at a disadvantage in the metropolitan area,” Hoffman said. “I know there are a lot of good people in town who want to do their jobs effectively, and in many cases they don’t get the right tools.”
After years of complaints about delays from the Dallas Construction Department, Toyota Consulting reviewed the call center operations and found a list of defects that were detailed in this week’s briefing.
More than half of the callers were left in a cue for more than 15 minutes.
Thanks to technological improvements, callers can now provide better information faster.
“This is clearly an achievement and progress is being made. It’s still a frustrating time to wait on the phone, ”said Councilor Gay Donnell Willis.
There are many other unresolved issues, according to Phil Crone, executive director of the Dallas Homebuilders Association.
“This was definitely not a moment when the mission was accomplished to solve the problems in the construction department,” he said.
Zoning consultant Tabitha Wheeler-Reagan said simple matters that used to be done on the ground now require weeks or even months of red tape that is crippling for some of their clients.
“We know that our economy is run by small businesses and it only takes a thing or two to quit a small business before it starts,” she said.
The Dallas City Council performance committee heard the Department of Building briefing on Monday.
“I think the time has come to do some executive research into how we allowed this dysfunctional situation to arise in the first place. Second, how we let it go on for years. There have been complaints about the building permit area and its responsiveness for years, ”Ridley said.
Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Reich agreed that building agency efficiency is key to funding city programs.
“The sooner we can complete development and projects in the city of Dallas, the more property will be taxed and added to our public safety and infrastructure services,” she said.
Some members asked if more people needed to be hired.
Committee chairman Cara Mendelsohn said the Toyota review shows the city needs to fix things, not just throw people at the problems.
“We have to go on. We have many different parts of this department that are not working the way we expect, ”said Mendelsohn.
Mendelsohn said construction department heads would be called back to the government’s performance committee every month until all issues were resolved.
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