Building Department in the firing line
Published on February 11th, 2004
STONEHAM, MA - The article on the Building Department is first in a series of looks at the town's departments, and how they could potentially be affected by Fiscal Year 2005 budget cuts.
Rumor has it that he's completely unreasonable.
It's said he has the type of stubborn, uncompromising attitude that leaves both veteran developers and would-be-citizen deck builders alike waiting for a building permit like an eight-year-old looking forward to his driver's license.
And if you walk by Building Inspector Gene Argiro's basement office in Town Hall at just the right time, you might catch a glimpse of the same grizzled demeanor displayed by his two office employees.
That's what Coby Construction owner George Carpenito found out on Monday morning when he visited the building department during its public office hours.
Whistling repeatedly for help while waiving a building permit application wildly in the air before repeatedly slamming his hand on the counter's bell a few dozen times, he came face to face with full-time clerk Rosemary Geary.
"I don't answer to whistles," announces Geary in a matter of fact voice, remaining seated at her desk, which overlooks the counter.
"You can ring that bell as many times as you want. You ring it like that, you're getting nothing," she adds, fighting to keep a playful smirk from her expression as she walks up to the desk to greet the regular visitor.
Argiro, walking out of his office door dressed in a white collared shirt and dress tie decorated with blotches of red, gray, and black, chuckles at the transgression, which has now turned into a passionate debate over the Grammy Awards and featured performance by Christina Aguilera.
"You know sometimes sitting here is like being at the Coby comedy hour," jokes Argiro as he passes by.
Standing at the office counter and chatting with Geary and part-time clerk Carolyn Auriemma for a few minutes after receiving his building permit application receipt, Carpenito took a few minutes to comment on his experiences with the building department.
Carpenito, whose company performs a variety of services including total house remodeling and kitchen and bath repairs, claims he's never had any type of problem with the building department.
"The most I've ever waited for a permit is 30 days. That's for an addition, but that's pretty normal," remarked Carpenito.
"He's very knowledgeable, very by the book," said Carpenito of Argiro.
Yet at the same time, Carpenito doesn't brush away from the fact that he'd like to see permits coming his way faster.
"I can honestly tell you that I have never had a problem getting a permit. It depends on what it is, but could you get a permit a little faster? Sure," Carpenito commented.
Dropping by the office for the first time, Stoneham resident Noah Nazarian admitted that he's heard many of the horror stories about the building department.
But pleased to find himself being issued a building permit on the spot to perform small repairs to his bathroom, the High Street resident found himself pleasantly surprised.
"I've heard all kinds of stories, but this was pleasurable...If I was a contractor building a house, it may have been a little different, but he explained everything I had to do and how to go about it," said Nazarian.
While only a handful of residents took advantage of the open office hours on Monday, not one of the visitors voiced a complaint about their experiences. Even Stevens Street resident Dennis Bain, who describes himself as Argiro's arch-enemy, was treated politely although curtly by the office staff as he filled out a public record request. Sitting behind his horseshoe shaped desk, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he looks over a mound of stuffed multi-colored folders that cover virtually every inch of his desk, Argiro speaks very candidly about both recent accusations concerning his office's performance and his growing fears that his department could face drastic budget reductions in FY05.
Like all departments, Argiro was required to cut 14.31 percent of his budget by Town Administrator David Berry, amounting to an approximate $30,000 cut.
Requesting that he be allowed to keep Assistant Building Inspector Cheryl Noble, and his part-time clerk, Argiro proposed transferring his full-time clerk in exchange for an additional part-time worker, resulting in a 12 percent reduction. Characterizing his office as a safety office that performs a pivotal service to the townspeople, Argiro stressed the importance of maintaining a well-staffed department.
"I consider this a life-safety department. Sure, we do additions and all that, but we're also responsible for enforcing the building code. That's responsible for the number of exits, the lengths of hallways in buildings and even regulates whether sprinkler systems are required," commented Argiro.
"Somebody has to watch the store. You can't have things running rampant. Money rules the world and unfortunately, that makes people do strange things. You have elderly and other people in town who don't know about the rules and people end up taking advantage of them. Somebody has to look out for them," the building inspector added.
Claiming that a lot of people want to dismiss his department's safety aspects, Argiro considers last year's Rhode Island night club fire a tragic reminder of what happens when those office functions are ignored.
"What happened in Rhode Island, it just changed everything. I take these issues very seriously. Other people don't and say we don't have to worry about them...The Northeast hasn't had any earthquakes, hurricanes, major blizzards or other major disaster for quite a long time. But that's the true test to the building code and what we do here -- whether structures stand up to a major disaster," Argiro explained. While Berry's budget kept the building department staffed with Noble and two part-time clerks as requested, the building inspector fears that an ongoing tiff between the Selectmen and himself could lead to what he termed personal cuts.
According to the building inspector, his biggest fear is the loss of Noble, which would force him to cover zoning and small building projects while ignoring larger safety concerns.
"Any reductions in this staff greater than 14.31 percent is personal as far as I'm concerned. There's just no rhyme or reason to it. If we were to lose her [Noble], it would end up as a 29 percent reduction in my office, and that's not fair if everybody else is only cutting 14.3 percent," Argiro commented.
Speculating on where the ongoing disagreements between his office and the Selectmen originated from, Argiro believes he's being singled out for not playing favorites.
"I can't get into somebody else's head and come up with why they're doing what they're doing. But I guess they're just used to getting their way. If an owner calls them because they're having a problem with the building department, they feel they should be able to do something about it," the building inspector charged.
"If they think I'm going to look away from the building code because it's one of their friends, I'm not going to do it. I wouldn't even do it for my mother, so I'm certainly not going to do it for them," he added defiantly.
While Berry didn't go as far as to accuse the Selectmen of interfering with the building department's daily business, he did say that recent public comments and complaints made by the board circumvented the normal complaint process, which should go directly to the town administrator's office or be taken up with the Zoning Board of Appeals.
"Having people who are not really authorized getting involved in this office is not beneficial for the department. There's a set-process for complaints and they should be made through those channels...To try to get involved with staff like that just undermines the office and the town and encourages actions that shouldn't happen," said Berry, who doesn't think the office receives more complaints than it has historically.
However, according to recent statements made by the Board of Selectmen regarding the office, board members receive a weekly flood of complaints from citizens regarding Argiro.
Yet Argiro claims that the building complaints are quite common throughout Massachusetts.
"I attend at least one building inspector conference or meeting a month and we all comment and joke about people who say, 'I don't have to do this in other towns.' You never get a straight story out of the people who say in other towns it's easier," said Argiro.
"We don't hold up anything deliberately. We review it and get it back to them a soon as possible. If people want to drag their feet, that's their problem. The myth that somebody submits something and it stays here for six-months untouched is ridiculous," Argiro added.
Commenting on the building department a week after a public hearing between the Board of Selectmen and Argiro was cancelled, Selectman Charlie Smith claimed that the department is such a problem, he receives up to five phone complaints a week about the building inspector and has even had people walk up to him in the grocery store to voice their concerns.
"Two calls a week are too many...When people wait 50 days for their permits and then come in to hear Gene say, 'something's missing' and that they have to wait another 30 days, that's a problem," said Smith.
"In my opinion, he's supposed to be facilitating things and he's not, he's hindering things. He's an obstacle...If he can't get it done in 30 days, I'd like to help him and find a way to get it done. If we can't fix it, then we'll put a better department in," Smith added.
While the building inspector did acknowledge that larger commercial plans do take longer than smaller projects, he claims the process is often dragged out when people don't include all the required information.
"The commercial plans sometimes may take three or four sit downs just to get the application and documentation straight. In these cases it could take three or four months before an applicant gets a permit. But if I had all the documentation, most of those would be sent out within a couple weeks," claimed Argiro.
While Berry agrees that Argiro could make significant strides in his customer service skills, the town administrator doesn't consider the building inspector to be unfairly biased.
"I don't think he's unfair or unbiased in any way. I don't have any proof or indication that he's using his office to manipulate things in any way," Berry remarked.
"I have talked to him about improving his customer service skills, but we all have strengths and weaknesses.."
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