The Peoria County Board will consider hiring two new employees for its planning and zoning department despite its ongoing hiring freeze. Two county committees recently approved adding another general building inspector to its payrolls as well as clerical support for that inspector.
The move comes after a recent report found the Planning and Zoning Department was not adequately staffed to meet its growing caseload. Peoria County Assistant Administrator Scott Sorrel says the two full-time positions will cost the county 70-thousand dollars in total.
"This is a very important customer service function that we provide to the community, and if we're having some challenges because of our staffing levels, those two committees have gone on record as saying that an acceptable and viable solution is right-sizing our staffing levels."
Sorrel says the county is seeing an uptick in construction now that the economy has improved. He says the new positions will also help as residents who experienced flood damage to their properties seek inspections for re-construction.
In other county board news, the land use committee recently approved suspending building permit fees for properties damaged by flooding. Both issues will go before the county board at its next meeting.