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First there was then there wasn't then there was and now there's not a building inspector so Tuesday 13 building contractors met with Silver City Town officials to talk about permit and inspection issues and what comes next.

As It Stands Now
For those, homeowners or contractors, in possession of a valid Building Permit issued by the Town of Silver City your inspections are currently being done by the Deming Building Inspector Gina Gentile - 575-546-8848 ext 128. Note- she will not be issuing building permits for Silver City.

For those homeowners or contractors wishing to obtain a building permit for either new construction or certain remodeling: According to Assistant Town Manager James Marshall all new permits are being issued from the Las Cruces office of the NM Construction Industries Division (CID) and they will conduct all inspections concerning those permits. Judging from their web site there is no way to apply for a permit online but plans are required when a permit is applied for.

Best to call CID before making the long journey as some of the contractors at the meeting spoke of difficulties obtaining their permits. If you encounter problems call our Community Development Department and complain. It can 2 weeks for the CID inspector to arrive on-scene for an inspection because they are the inspectors for the southern half of the state, under staffed and getting worse with the worsening condition of the state finances.

CID Construction Industries Division
Loretto Town Center, 505 S Main St # 150, Las Cruces, NM 88001
Phone: (575) 524-6320
http://www.rld.state.nm.us/construction/

Coming Up It Gets Worse
In 2018 every Town and County that hires even one Building Inspector must also hire a Certified Building Official (CBO) as a supervisor at twice the salary of the Building Inspector.

Some definitions of terms is in order, a Building Inspector permits and inspects the building from foundation to roof but a separate state inspector inspects the electricity and another inspects for plumbing and another for mechanical and commercial fire code are inspected by our Fire Marshall. The inadequate salary of our Building Inspector was never covered by the permit fees necessitating the tax payor subsidies.

The CBO though simply supervising Building Inspectors for now, must be certified to insect Electrical, Plumbing, Mechanical and maybe more. The online classes and testing is rigorous and time consuming then the final multi day class and testing can only be done for our region in Denver Colorado.

It is unclear at this point that if we hire only a CBO if he or she can do all the various inspections with a single permit . I suspect that the state is moving in this direction even though it puts tremendous finical pressure on small towns throughout the state.

Also at the meeting was a representative from the Grant County Planning Department, Mischa Larischi who pledged that the county will study and consider a partnership with Silver City in hiring a CBO.