Barbara Cannady for Burns Times-Herald

Haney County building inspections, as well as building in general, had a reputation for being slow, as inspection services would come from as far away as Ontario and even state agencies. 

That changed with the employment of former Klamath Falls Building Official, Rick Stauffer. His certifications and harmonious relationships with current employees, Jesse Barnes and Brett Thomas, has created a dynamic structure for self-sufficiency through intergovernmental alliances.

Brett Thomas, GIS Mapping Specialist, is now certified for all residential plan reviews and inspections. Jack-of-all-trades, Jesse Barnes is directly responsible for all septic designs and inspections. As Building Official, Stauffer came with a resolve for efficiency and creating funding streams that could fund their Department. To that end, he looked to creating service associations with Grant County to provide building and on-site septic inspections.  Those efforts have now expanded to agreements with Klamath (commercial plumbing), Wheeler (septic) and Wallowa (residential back-up as needed) Counties.

The team is also hoping to hire a full-time “A” level Electrical Inspector in February.  That Inspector will be based in John Day.

Intergovernmental Agreements are blank documents that can be applied to any program.  The Harney County team has taken this concept to an editable design format to make better use of their skills and provide services to larger geographic areas.

The State Building Codes Division (BCD) has recently announced their own formation of an agreement similar to what Harney County has established, that allows building departments throughout the state to request and share services such as plan review and inspections.

The Building Evaluation Support Agreement (BESA) is a voluntary agreement between jurisdictions. “Because the BESA is structured as a multilateral agreement, all participating jurisdictions have a framework in place to work directly with other participants. Once a jurisdiction joins the agreement, it does not need to have separate agreements with each jurisdiction. Any participating municipality can request from and provide services to BCD and any other participating municipality. BCD is also acting as a connector by helping to join jurisdictions in need to those with extra capacity.”

Stauffer is not sure that Harney County should switch over quite yet, but is letting everyone know it’s available.  “Building departments have been sharing work for years. Most departments don’t take on additional work outside of their jurisdiction. But we do,” he added.

“At this point I don’t see any reason to start using it.” Stauffer continued. “We want the ability to cancel an agreement should we need to, or the county we’re working for to do the same. Having an IGA negotiated between two counties is simpler to manage and not every requirement or need will be the same.

I think where we’re leading is the attempt to build a department based on the big picture of an Eastern Oregon Hub. If we can create a self-sustaining building hub? Onsite Hub? What else is out there?

We are trying to expand our reach, work within (and grow) the parameters and budget that we have, and pivot to new opportunities as they arise. Not reinventing the wheel, just trying to build a program that benefits Harney County and its residents while still providing professional building support that doesn’t come off as over bearing code cops.”