Permit Technician (20707603)

Ideal candidates will bring all the knowledge, skills, abilities, and minimum qualifications of a Planning Permit Technician listed in this bulletin and will:

• Have an ICC Permit Technician certification.
• Possess exceptional communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
• Be bright, energetic, and exude a positive attitude.
• Enjoy helping people solve planning challenges and issues.
• Work equally well with public, vendors, contractors, City officials, and City staff.
• Have some experience in a municipal planning environment, may have assisted. planners with current planning applications and permits.
• Have had significant exposure to building codes, issuing permits, fees, and document processing. 
• Effectively and patiently convey and explain complex rules and regulations in simple terms to a diverse variety of people.
• Excel as a contributing member in a team environment.

EXAMPLES OF DUTIES:

Depending upon assignment, duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Processes and issues over-the-counter permits; reviews permit applications, plans, specifications, and supporting documents for completeness and compliance with legal standards and City requirements; obtains approvals from planning, building, and engineering, as well as external agencies prior to permit issuance; reviews and approves the Recycle Management Plan; calculates permit fees; prepares bills, collects fees, and issues receipts; issues permits following established guidelines.
• Coordinates planning and building review approval process; reviews and assembles plans and accompanying documents; performs basic plan check review and approval of various simple construction projects such as replacement of water heaters, bathroom remodels, and re-roofs according to standards checklists; files or routes information to appropriate City departments and plan review contractors.
• Provides appropriate information regarding zoning and building ordinances, procedures, and requirements to the public including homeowners, developers, contractors, engineers, and architects, in person and over the counter and telephone; assists the public in the application process for building permits and other developmental processes.
• Notifies applicants when plans or permits are ready for delivery or issuance; provides status updates.
• Processes encroachment permits, including recording application information, processing fees, assigning permit numbers, and sending information to the City Engineer.
• Monitors and coordinates office paperwork and activities, including distributing mail, answering phones, logging inspection requests from hotline, printing applications, and conducting a variety of special projects of a routine administrative nature.
• Applies departmental policies and procedures in determining completeness of applications, records, and reports; provides information and forms to the public; processes appropriate information.
• Checks status of State contractors’ licenses, business licenses, and verification of workers’ compensation insurance.
• Compiles information and data for various reports; maintains a variety of records; checks and tabulates data for required reports.
• Contacts the public and outside agencies in acquiring and providing information and making referrals.
• Operates standard office equipment, including job-related computer hardware and software applications, facsimile equipment, and multi-line telephones.
• Provides needed information and demonstrations concerning how to perform certain work tasks to employees in other office support classifications.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Knowledge of:

• Applicable Federal, State, and local laws, rules, regulations, ordinances, and organizational policies and procedures relevant to building, engineering, and/or urban planning, sufficient to answer questions and provide information to the public; applicable zoning and related laws and regulations.
• Principles and practices of data collection and report preparation.
• Business arithmetic and basic statistical techniques.
• Principles and procedures of cash handling.
• Record keeping principles and procedures.
• Modern office practices, methods, and computer equipment and applications, including word processing, database, and spreadsheet applications.
• English usage, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation.
• Techniques for providing a high level of customer service by effectively dealing with the public, vendors, contractors, and City staff.

Ability to:

• Understand and explain City policies, procedures, fees, and basic building, zoning, and engineering codes and regulations to the general public, permit applicants, and City staff.
• Interpret, apply, explain, and ensure compliance with applicable Federal, State, and local laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures.
• Read and interpret plans, specifications, related construction documents, and maps.
• Calculate square footage, fees and/or penalties from plans, and fees for zoning permit applications.
• Perform detailed, technical, and specialized planning and zoning and/or permit support work.
• Perform the full range of office and administrative support duties and tasks.
• Respond to and effectively prioritizing multiple phone calls, walk-up traffic, and other requests and interruptions.
• Compose correspondence and reports independently or from brief instructions.
• Maintain accurate logs, records, and basic written records of work performed.
• Enter and retrieve data from a computer with sufficient speed and accuracy to perform assigned work.
• Make accurate arithmetic, financial, and statistical computations.
• Make sound, independent decisions within established policy and procedural guidelines.
• Organize own work, set priorities, and meet critical time deadlines.
• Operate modern office equipment including computer equipment and specialized software applications programs.
• Use English effectively to communicate in person, over the telephone, and in writing.
• Use tact, initiative, prudence, and independent judgment within general policy, procedural, and legal guidelines.
• Establish, maintain, and foster positive and effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of work.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Any combination of training and experience that would provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is qualifying.  A typical way to obtain the required qualifications would be:

Education: Equivalent to the completion of the twelfth (12th) grade.

Experience: Four (4) years of increasingly responsible administrative experience or technical or office support work which involved extensive public contact and interaction providing information and processing documents or experience in planning and building construction which involved extensive exposure to building codes, issuing permits, fees, and document processing.

Licenses/Certifications:

• Must possess or obtain an ICC Permit Technician certification within six months of the date of hire.
• The ability to convey oneself to and from geographical locations frequently and timely, or possession of a valid CA driver's license.

Desired Qualifications:

• An accredited four-year degree in urban planning, engineering, building inspection/construction, architecture, or a closely related field.
• Specialized course work in database software, building codes and/or inspection, or related courses is also desired.