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player ready...The village of Mundelein is taking over building code enforcement duties for neighboring Long Grove after both municipalities approved an intergovernmental agreement at recent Village Board meetings.
Officials said it’s part of an effort to share resources and help each village financially.
Under the agreement, Mundelein will handle regular building inspections and plan reviews for Long Grove — which is located about seven miles south — as well as code enforcement issues. Mundelein Building Department Director Pete Schubkegel said this will be done for a user fee each time work is performed.
“It’s kind of pay-as-you-go,” he said. “We’re not doing it for a loss, but we’re not taking advantage of them either.”
The Mundelein Building Department, which has also done building inspections and plan reviews for the village of Hawthorn Woods since 2010, handles about 2,000 complaints annually, Schubkegel said. With the addition of Long Grove, Schubkegel said he expects to have about 100 more added to that.
Long Grove Village Manager Greg Jackson said the agreement is part of the village’s efforts to limit its government. To this end, Jackson said Long Grove often seeks resource-sharing deals with other villages that have deeper resources and outsources government services to the private sector as much as possible.
“Long Grove runs its local government based on a limited government concept,” he said. “It works for us.”
The Long Grove Building Department has one employee: Building Commissioner Margerita Romanello. Schubkegel said the arrangement is beneficial because it allows Long Grove to save money by paying as they go as opposed to hiring another full-time person.
The agreement caps the fees Long Grove will pay at $10,000 a month, Jackson said.
With a small staff, Jackson said the need for an agreement with Mundelein arose after Long Grove’s longtime planner of 16 years retired. After more than 90 days of having the job open, Jackson said only three people had applied. This left the village to reassess and question the best approach for code inspections.
“We’re pretty pleased with the services we’re receiving,” Jackson said.
Conversely, Mundelein is expecting to hire another person, adding to its staff. Schubkegel said this allows for services to be more effective both within and outside the village.
Mundelein Trustee Jenny Ross, who also serves on the village Building Committee, said this type of agreement helps Mundelein improve its services.
“(The agreement) allows Mundelein to have more staff in the Building Department, which provides increased flexibility and more diversity of expertise and experience,” Ross said.