FAQs

The City of Bloomington, in the development process for implementing the energy disclosure policy, found that an additional software system would be required to continue using private TOS inspectors. The creation and maintenance of a separate software system for private TOS inspectors was determined to not be a cost-effective option for the City and taxpayers. Therefore, the City of Bloomington decided to bring the TOS program “in-house” and primarily rely on internal City staff to complete inspections.

The City of Bloomington completed an internal audit comparing inspections completed by private inspectors versus City of Bloomington staff inspectors. A large discrepancy was found in hazards reported between the two groups. The City determined that the data accuracy of the TOS program, in addition to communications and customer service, would be improved by bringing it in-house.

The City of Bloomington is considering an ordinance to create a panel of approved private TOS inspectors. This panel can either be requested by the seller or requested by the City if the City needs assistance meeting the demand for TOS inspections in a timely manner. Information on the RFP process for joining the panel will be sent out after the February 7th City Council meeting if the ordinance is passed.

Once the program is updated, the city would be able to accommodate an inspection within 48 hours otherwise the city would move to the approved list of contracted evaluators.

The $100 fee would be for a customer that would not like to have a private evaluator and would like a city inspector perform their time of sale evaluation on their property but after normal business hours of 8-4:30 Monday –Friday. Due to our inspectors being Union the city is required to pay overtime for any work that is completed outside of their normal work hours, so this fee is to offset those costs.

Can we say...

The $100 fee would be for a customer that would like to have a a city inspector perform their time of sale evaluation on their property after normal business hours of 8 am -4:30 pm Monday –Friday. City Inspectors are unionized and therefore the City is required to pay overtime for any work that is completed outside of their normal work hours.  This fee offsets those additional costs.