The Bismarck City Commission on Tuesday shifted the duties of building inspector from the fire department to the Planning and Development Department.

A staff position within the Planning Department also was realigned in the motion.

Commissioner Parrell Grossman said this gives builders and developers a "one-stop shopping" concept in permitting buildings.

"It kind of became evident to me with industry representatives as well as the city commission and in our latest round of budget talks that it probably was a good time to combine the inspection department with engineer and planning development," he said.

Still, he thanked Fire Chief Joel Boespflug for doing a tremendous job in the inspection capacity of his duties.

City Administrator Bill Wocken spelled out the details of the switch.

"First, the building inspection division will be separated from the fire department and then will be included in the Planning and Development Department. As a division, these two functions work quite closely together and that would be a good 'marriage.'"

Wocken also requested the inspection function be incorporated and be managed by the building official.

In a third request, he asked the current Long-range Planning Downtown and Revitalization HUD planning portions of the Planning Department will be managed as a planning division through a planning manager. Wocken said this is a new position.

He added a zoning enforcement officer position that was considered and was not placed in the 2009 budget.

The actions become effective Dec. 28 to correlate with the city payroll schedule.

Wocken explained how a new position was created within the Planning Department and how it was reorganized.

"We presently have a senior planner in the Planning Department. That position would be done away with," Wocken said. "The planning manager would be put in its place. The compensation level for the planning manager is a larger level. However, the individual would be at the minimum of the range for a management position so there would be no immediate financial implications. … All other positions would remain the same."

Wocken said the building inspection and planning and zoning now have a natural connection. "There's a lot of back-door traffic. They're located adjacent to one another on the second floor of the City/County Building. We think the combination with building inspection and zoning is a lot stronger than a number of years ago."

Grossman participated in the meeting by speaker phone.

Commissioner Connie Sprynczynatyk was absent.

(Reach reporter LeAnn Eckroth at 250-8264 or leann.eckroth@;bismarcktribune.com.)