Stamford considers new job to fix permit delays

STAMFORD — The city's director of operations wants to appoint a No. 2 whose responsibilities will include speeding up the permitting process for construction projects.

Stamford's budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 includes more than $162,000 to pay a deputy director of operations. The city is now asking the Board of Representatives to add the new position to Stamford's Code of Ordinances.

During a meeting Monday of the board's Personnel Committee, Al Cava, Stamford's director of human resources, noted that the Office of Operations is the largest division within city government, including the building, engineering, road maintenance, land use, parks and facilities, recreation, sanitation and traffic departments.

Cava said the “idea behind the deputy director of operations is to have someone who can work between” those departments, ensuring “we don't have a situation where one department is not talking to the other department and things get backed up in the process.”

Director of Operations Matthew Quinones agreed, saying a lack of coordination between departments causes significant delays in the securing a permit.

“So what I would like to do with this role is to really have this person ... reduce the amount of time that our customers, so to speak, are spending waiting to build and also reduce the expenses for them — and that goes for home construction projects to large development,” Quinones said.

Quinones said department heads will continue to report to him. He described the deputy director as a referee who will be able to settle disagreements between departments it is not envisioned as a supervisor position.

The goal is to set up a new system by September that will cut down on the time it takes to receive a construction permit, Quinones said. He said the city is also looking to speed up the currently paperbased process for obtaining other kinds of permits — like permits to use park space.

In addition to smoothing out the permitting process, Quinones said he will charge his second-in-command with creating a system to give residents an idea of how soon the city will be able to address a request or complaint submitted through the Fix It Stamford dashboard.

Departments within the Office of Operations respond to the vast majority of Fix It tickets, Quinones said. Those include reports of potholes, roadkill or debris blocking streets.

“Right now, it's kind of a black hole,” Quinones said. “So someone submits a pothole ticket, let's say, and they're told, ‘Your request has been received.' There's no communication (of ) expectations for the resident in terms of how long it's going to take.”

He said he also pictures his deputy coordinating with utility companies and the city's traffic and road maintenance departments.

“A common example is when we see a street ripped up that we had paved six months prior or something like that,” Quinones said. “That's a common occurrence that we can avoid with a little bit more forecasting and someone who has the bandwidth and capability to be able to kind of build those systems in.”

Mayor Caroline Simmons included the deputy director of operations role — a nonunion position — in her proposed budget for fiscal year 2022-23. She requested $162,552 for the person's salary. Neither the Board of Finance nor the Board of Representatives cut that amount during budget meetings.

Quinones noted that while Simmons asked for funding for the deputy director's salary, she didn't seek funding to pay a superintendent of parks and recreation within his office. The superintendent position, which has been vacant, was previously funded at $142,024.

Quinones said he is looking at creating a combined parks and recreation department. Currently, the city has a parks and facilities department that maintains not only the city's parks but also municipal buildings. It has a separate department that offers recreation programs.

On Monday, the Personnel Committee also considered a contract for a new director of the city's Office of Policy and Management.

Jay Fountain held the position during Mayor David Martin's administration. Simmons has chosen Elda Sinani, Hartford's director of licenses and inspections, to take over the role.

The contract sets Sinani's salary at $157,803.