Good Afternoon, The…

The following comments are being submitted on behalf of the Council of the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge with respect to the proposed changes to the Ontario Building Code Act.

Council’s comments are as follows:

Getting People Working in the Building Sector

To become a qualified building code professional in Ontario, individuals are required to pass a building code examination on the legal requirements of the Building Code Act, 1992 (BCA), as well as in every area of the Building Code they wish to practice (e.g., House, Small Buildings, Large Buildings, Plumbing, Structural, etc.). The ministry is responsible for developing 16 technical and legal examinations, which are delivered through Humber College. The Building Code is complex, and training and ongoing education is key to working with this document effectively. The current standard examination format of 3 hours with 75 multiple choice questions does not seem effective. Open book testing is okay, as it mirrors a more “real-life” scenario in that a Building Official would review legislation, the Code, and other available tools to compile an answer, but in that respect, is a time limit necessary? A re-formatted exam procedure should be considered through this process.

There is fairly limited training available for candidates (especially in Northern and rural areas) studying for these exams. With the training currently being offered by George Brown College, satellite courses should be offered in every City in the Province to ensure that anyone who wants to take part in the course has a reasonably easy and affordable way to do so.

With respect to internships, no body, administrative or otherwise, can provide an internship program without experienced staff in place to provide the service. This would be something only larger municipalities could offer as smaller municipalities are likely contracting out a CBO as full time work isn’t available.

The Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge disagrees with the creation of an “administrative authority” and does not see the value in creating a new body that will be starting from the ground up when there are many existing authorities that could currently provide the same service given appropriate funding. It is likely that answers from the public would vary greatly depending on where they are located in the Province and what services are available to them. From a cost-efficiency standpoint, the Ministry should develop the expertise and hire the right people to deliver these services, rather than creating a new entity altogether. Improvement to the way in which training is delivered is required regardless of whether the Province decides to go ahead with the creation of an administrative authority, but if more costs are born through the creation of this authority that municipalities would be responsible for in addition to the training of staff, the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge is not in support of this. Smaller municipalities could implement a shared service model for building code professionals, but due to liability and insurance concerns, there may be unwillingness from larger centers to do this. Finding a way to overcome this hurdle would assist in addressing some recruiting problems.

There is nothing preventing a developer from using a Coordinating Professional or Prime Consultant now. We are talking about large buildings which requires professional design for the most part. The Architect’s Act and the Professional Engineer’s Act requires inspections. The building code requires the professional to submit their site review reports to the CBO. Most building permit applications are held up because of applicable law, not disagreements in building code interpretation. Will municipalities continue to be held liable with the use of a Prime Consultant?

Promoting Sustainability and Transparency in the Building Code Profession

Regarding the types of compliance measures that should be put in place to ensure building code professionals are meeting the requirements of their registration, the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge submits that appropriate accreditation/licensing together with continued professional development should be all that is required. Should complaints be submitted, they should be investigated and dealt with by employers, and it should not be open to the general public.

Continuing Professional Development is required, however it is difficult for small municipalities to provide this without funding. The Ontario Building Officials Association currently has a certification program which requires completion of a mix of informal and formal activities over a 3 – year cycle to receive and maintain the professional designation of Certified Building Code official (CBCO). With funding, a system similar to this could be implemented.

Where the Province is seeking opinions regarding financial penalties being used as a means of encouraging compliance with registration requirements, the Municipality does not agree that this is an appropriate response. Rather, progressive discipline, license suspension and eventual revocation would be more appropriate.

Building Code Administration and Enforcement

The questions in this section focus on supporting local building service delivery. As previously mentioned, the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge does not support the creation of an administrative authority, though if municipalities could purchase the services of a building code professional, this could ease the recruitment issues.

Should the administrative authority come into effect, they should have at minimum one Northwestern Ontario presence, as one of the primary issues now is that service delivery from Southern Ontario is unreliable and inefficient.

There is a possibility that an administrative authority could be beneficial in unincorporated areas, where the Lakehead Rural Planning Board may be interested in contracting them to undertake code compliance enforcement, though that is a huge undertaking where there has been a lack of enforcement in those areas up to this point.

Improving Building Sector Supports

Having more tools and assistance provided to those undertaking the role of building code implementation and enforcement is the most beneficial. Any type of interpretive assistance, as well as the creation and distribution of resources is key.

An electronic version of the code would be a great tool, though in many small rural municipalities, there is a lack of appropriate broadband capacity to utilize this service, and it would not be possible on mobile devices

Funding Better Service Delivery

Requiring municipalities to collect and remit a fee surcharge on top of the workload requirements of small rural municipalities, as well as the imposition of additional costs on developers, is neither something that the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge feels they could absorb, nor does it make us “open for business” as it only creates more barriers for economic development.

Seeking your Input

“Historically, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has provided a suite of building code services. However, over time, the delivery of these services has not kept pace with the needs of the sector, making this model unsustainable.”

The Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge submits that if funding is available for the creation of an administrative authority to replace the role the MMAH has historically played, could that funding not be put towards keeping pace with the needs of the sector and retaining the services through the Ministry?

Thanks,

Kerri Reid
Manager of Planning
Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge