Gotta love local Government

[ckissick]

Or not. Our County hired a new building inspector last October. He is a former builder who really knows his poop. Finally, they hired someone who's knowledgeable and reasonable. Alas, he was just fired. The reason? He was told he's not pissing off enough builders. The County knows this because they're not getting enough complaints.

[GH85Carrera]

Sounds about right. Bureaucrats love dysfunction and hate smooth running efficient operations. They can hire more workers to make it look like they are trying to fix the issue, they want a bigger budgets.

When we put in a tornado shelter, the company we picked to do it had one major selling point. He handed me a full construction plan all filled out and all I had to do was sign it. They had done so many they knew the city codes and just what the inspectors want. He told me what floor to go to at the city office, what office and just hand it in, with a check made out to that office. It was super smooth.

One of my friends had two weeks of hell getting his approved when he had it built by a different company.

One part of the application is getting the city notified exactly where it is, and onto the books and computers of fire and rescue. If a semi trailer is sitting on top of the shelter, they know to come get us out and not leave us buried. I do have a come along hooked to the door to pull it open if it is just some small debris on top.

[look 171]

Bring him down here. We sure need someone with real building knowledge. I had a county inspector who has a master degree (oh he sure let everyone know that) come out and bounce my window waterproofing twice. I finally asked, what are you look for us to do. He leaned over quietly, I am not sure. I have never seen windows install over concrete like that before. I leaned over and said, this is the best way with a layer of waterproofing covering 20" over into the concrete. 10" over and beyond normal. He nodded and walked away.

[pwd72s]

What we need is big centralized Government. Everything ruled by a huge bureaucracy in Washington D.C.

[Superman]

I really have never understood why we do not consider government-bashing to be political. Not criticizing. I just simply notice one political party that cares about government and notices the social need for it, while another political party does its best to defund and reduce it, and then make the remaining government agencies as dysfunctional as possible. But I guess this not not politics, per se.

I served a government regulatory function for much of my career, and this does mean that you will make a certain proportion of stakeholders angry. Nature of the beast. It is simply not possible to perform a regulatory function and make everyone happy at the same time.

Looping back to the OP.....hiring someone like a former construction contractor to perform a regulatory function is potentially awesome and also potentially disastrous. Yes, they have a great deal of technical knowledge. But.....if their heart is not in it.....if their agenda is make contractors successful and aid them in controlling costs and making money.....then they will need to be fired. Inspecting buildings under construction to stop contractors from cutting corners is the purpose of building inspections. If the inspector's agenda is to protect the contractor instead of the consumer, then the inspector is not doing his job.

And the contractors will like that very much. And be very unhappy when he is fired.

I regulated the construction industry, though my gig was not building code or building inspection. But I did regulate construction and I can tell you unequivocally that contractors WILL cut corners if allowed. Some are way worse than others. There are some AMAZING and efficient and impressive construction contractors out there that I admire and appreciate very much. But there is good reason to regulate that industry. One of the reasons is to protect those good contractors.

[GH85Carrera]

Supe, we criticize the insane rules and regulations bureaucrats just make up, with the legal right of law, but they have the legal right to force their rules are followed.

In Oklahoma the new code for roof replacement REQUIRES the plywood decking be replaced when the shingles are replaced, even if the house is just a few years old and the decking is perfect! If a hail storm comes through it can destroy the asphalt shingles, but the plywood decking is usually fine.

Now by decree of the building inspectors, the cost and total waste of time and money is required to replace all the decking. I can only guess the inspectors have stock in a plywood manufacturer. No doubt, if indeed some giant hail punched holes in the decking, or makes soft spots, replace it as needed.

That is just one example. Some things the government does OK.

Look at the VA, the USPS and the IRS as examples of horrible government customer service. Yea, the post off is independent yet with a 100% monopoly, they loose billions and billions every year, and stamps cost 60 cents now. As a quick experiment right now, try to call your local post office and talk to someone, anyone at all. Good luck. They don't even have a phone number listed, and if you find it, they will not answer the dang phone. And there is always, always a long line of people trying to get service or pick up a package. Always!

[Sooner or later]

What county?

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

What county?

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma.

They ran out of names back then I think.

One of my former co-workers lived on Oklahoma street. He said in the days of catalog ordering it he had a few customer service representatives snicker and ask, really? when he told them his address.

[Superman]

Glen, I appreciate your thoughtful and specific concerns and observations. Government is imperfect and so are the people administering them. Nature of the beast. Private companies are no different, except for the systemic dysfunction that stems from the political (legislative) part. Politicians score points by taking shots at government. Cutting funding, or declining to adequately fund it, is a favorite play among those of the anti-government ilk. This makes government operate disappintingly, which they also love. It makes government an even better target next time. Government differs from private industry in several important ways and this is one of them. A private business can, by itself, fund whatever efforts it deems appropriate. Like customer service. Government executives are 100% powerless in funding. Legislatures are empowered to do that. Government executives and managers are not. Governments can make tactical resource decisions but not strategic ones. The current Postmaster General is a conservative, appointed by the last administration, and with a background in freight. He apparently has just enough money to run the functional part of his agency. Moving and delivering mail. If he had the financial resources to improve customer service, then he would do that.

The last ten times I was frustrated with customer service, the organization was not a government entity. Try getting Comcast on the phone.

Nobody wants to handle first class mail. Certainly not for sixty cents per piece. With an envelope and sixty cents you can send me 3.5 oz of stuff and it will probably arrive in two days. Three at the outside. UPS won't do that. FedEx won't do that. USPS will. USPS does not control the price of a stamp.

The post office closest to me typically has long lines, but the one downtown is reliable a short wait or none at all. Unlike at Jeff's house, my mail is delivered very reliably to my mailbox.

When I send parcels, I use USPS. In my experience, the cost is lower and the service and reliabilty are higher.

Before I made assumptions about the new Oklahoma roof decking code, I would want to look into that rule-making file. When governments make chances to regulations, they are required to follow a very transparent and public process, which creates a LOT of documentation about why the new regulation is being proposed and what input was received and considered during the process. My guess is that owning stock in some plywood company had nothing to do with it whatsoever. My guess is that roofs were flying off during wind events BECAUSE the contractor failed to replace the sheets or ensure they are re-fastened after they were damaged in the last wind event. That's just a wild guess but I know you guys have wind down there sometimes and that governments are invariably forced to explain regulatory decisions to stakeholders whose costs are affected. That file would be interesting, if you were curious about the reason for this regulation. In fact, you might even find the regulation does not exactly say what you think it says. If you heard about it through the grapevine.

As I say, i appreciate your thoughtful observations and concerns. And I suspect there is more to the story than we know right now, if we have not seen the OK rule-making file and if we have not been tracking congressional drama around the USPS and also delivery and performance statistics. Which, by the way, would be available from USPS and probably not available from UPS or FedEx.

[GH85Carrera]

Minor point, postage is 60 cent for up to one ounce. It is 84 for up to 2 ounces $1.08 for 3 ounces and $1.32 for 3.5 ounces.

Comcast may have horrid customer service. You have a very simple choice. Don't be a customer, and use another service provider. That is not possible with the USPS. They are the only game in town for sending a letter or envelope. The Priority mail is an astonishingly good service, and we use it a lot. They do that part right!

I suspect the decking issue is after a hail storm. the "fly by night" storm chasers roofers swarm in. They put on the cheapest roof possible, take the insurance payout, and vanish. If there is a problem, good luck finding them as they have changed names and moved on to the next storm in the next state.

Stupid home owners hear the storm chaser roofers show up, and fast talk that insurance check is all they need, and they will not even make the homeowner pay the deductible. They use cheap materials and poor quality work and move on.

That is what the laws need to cover, but don't. So they just require a new decking for everyone. I bet many of the storm chasers don't replace a deck that really needed replacement, and the deck blows off in the next storm.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma.

They ran out of names back then I think.

One of my former co-workers lived on Oklahoma street. He said in the days of catalog ordering it he had a few customer service representatives snicker and ask, really? when he told them his address.

In the past I lived on White Deer Trail. When placing a phone order I gave my address. The guy asked "light beer trail?"

[pwd72s]

Try living on a road named after the call letters of a radio station...

[Superman]

Sorry for the very long post. Your response is well-reasoned. The reason USPS is the only game in town is because UPS won't deliver those letters for sixty cents and nobody wants to pay $15.00. There is no law that prohibits UPS from receiving, transporting or delivering documents. USPS is not the only game in town. It is by far the least expensive and most efficient.

Building code enforcement is sort of a big topic of discussion right now....in Turkey. Erdogan bragged in the last election cycle about giving amnesty to builders so that improperly-constructed buildings would not need to be brought to code. He's got some 'splainin' to do now. The next election is in May.

BTW, in Washington State you could probably get a copy of any building code rule-making file for free. In the olden days when somebody had to stand at a copier for many days to fill public records requests, there was a fee (which did not really cover the agency's actual expenses). Today, those records are provided electronically. Because of this, there is usually no fee.

And since we are on that topic, I can tell you there are people out there who make public records requests with no intention of reading the documents. The request can me made in an email, so the cost to the requestor is $0.00. The requestor then tracks the agency's performance in obeying public records law and if the agency misses a deadline or fails to cross a T or dot an i, the requestor files a lawsuit. Hoping the judge will apply punitive damages which could make the requestor wealthy. Your tax dollars at work. ')

[GH85Carrera]

I drive past a road frequently that is named "none such road" and I wonder if they ever get mail or packages delivered and if an ambulance or emergency responders even try to find them.

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by ckissick

Or not. Our County hired a new building inspector last October. He is a former builder who really knows his poop. Finally, they hired someone who's knowledgeable and reasonable. Alas, he was just fired. The reason? He was told he's not pissing off enough builders. The County knows this because they're not getting enough complaints.

Something doesn't sound right. Where did you get the info on the reason he was fired? From him?

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Yea, the post off is independent yet with a 100% monopoly, they loose billions and billions every year, and stamps cost 60 cents now

The USPS is regulated by the Fed govt as to what they are allowed to charge. They lose money because the Feds won't approve rate increases. They have no competition because no one else can deliver a letter for 60 cents. BTW, their biggest expense is pensions. We should look at the union if we want to blame running a deficit.

[jcwade]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

BTW, their biggest expense is pensions. We should look at the union if we want to blame running a deficit.

They are required by federal law to fund their pensions for the next 75 years.
this was put into place to destroy the USPS and allow private companies to profit.

In fact, the current Postmaster, General, Louis DeJoy, has major holdings in private package delivery companies.

Can you say, conflict of interest?

[A930Rocket]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

In the past I lived on White Deer Trail. When placing a phone order I gave my address. The guy asked "light beer trail?"

I had a coworker that lived on Deer Track Lane. When I was handing out checks, I thought it said Beer Truck Lane!

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by jcwade

They are required by federal law to fund their pensions for the next 75 years.
this was put into place to destroy the USPS and allow private companies to profit.

In fact, the current Postmaster, General, Louis DeJoy, has major holdings in private package delivery companies.

Can you say, conflict of interest?

So once again, the incompetent government operations make the post office what it is, a pitiful shell of the once great postal service.

One of my friends worked as a letter carrier for 25 years in the Edmond post office.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_post_office_shooting

He knew the shooter personally. My buddy talked about the way they ran the place, and of course my friend was a loyal union member. He said he told the local postmaster that shooter, that I will not dignify him by using his name, should be carefully watched or fired, and they would have fired him, but could not due to union rules.