City of Austin Permit Office has a heart

Just last week we received word that our new home was going to be delayed 3–4 months due to a significant backlog at the City of Austin’s permit office.

Their staff has been reduced over the last few years which caused turn around times to slow down dramatically. Our project’s paperwork was lost a month ago and we were asked to resubmit. This re-submission was seen as a new submission and as such put us in the back of the line. A lot of people submitted their plans in the last month which meant we were at the end of a very long line.

I reacted with a heartfelt email sent to the permit office’s design lead explaining in great detail the problems and challenges we would have if our project was delayed. My goal was to put faces with our submission. Not just my face, but those of my two boys and my wife. Their pictures were pasted throughout the email with mine.

My email asked the design lead and his staff to work our submission as if it was our first submission from a month ago. This seemed reasonable given the paperwork was lost after the chain of custody moved from our electrician to their office.

The next morning I got a call from my electrician Mike. He told me that the city called him at 7:15 AM with word that they were expediting the permit so we could get our family into the new house on time.

The fact is they worked extremely fast because these people at the heart of the permit office are our neighbors, with their very own families, working way too many hours.

And my family and I thank them.

[Picture by Laura Skelding from the Austin American Statesman from 2012.]