By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Alabaster’s Building Inspections Services Department will now operate under the umbrella of the city’s Fire Department after the City Council merged the two departments at the request of the mayor.

Council members voted unanimously during their Feb. 22 meeting to move the Building Inspections Department into the Fire Department, and to eliminate the city’s building official position.

The responsibilities previously handled by the building official will now be handled by the city’s fire marshal.

The vote came several days after Alabaster Mayor Marty Handlon requested the move during a Feb. 17 City Council work session. Handlon said she felt there was “a lot of duplication between the two departments.”

Under the city’s previous structure, those looking to obtain building licenses from the city were required to first meet with the Building Inspections Services Department before traveling to the Fire Department to schedule an inspection by the fire marshal. After a successful fire marshal inspection, the person looking to obtain a license then had to travel back to the Building Inspections Services Department to receive final approval.

“This way, people aren’t leaving (City Hall) and then coming to the Fire Department and then coming back here,” Alabaster Fire Chief Jim Golden said during the work session. “That’s not a reflection on the Fire Department or the Building Department. That’s a reflection on Alabaster.

“The chatter among the builders becomes ‘They are hard to work with,’” Golden said.

As a result of combining the two departments, builders can now complete the entire permitting process at the Fire Department. The department also will handle the city’s building code enforcement.

Golden said some Alabama cities, such as Vestavia Hills and Prattville, have gone a similar route with allowing their fire departments to handle all building permitting.

“We feel like this is in line with the city’s vision of excellence and customer service,” Golden said.

“Right now, it’s broken,” Handlon said during the work session. “Should I not get re-elected, the last thing I want to do is leave that still broken.”