Tyler to spend $29,600 to improve relationships with developers



City employees who work on development will receive training to improve their relationships with developers, contractors and residents.

The city will pay $29,600 to the Florida-based consulting firm Skyrme & Associates Inc. for training to create “astounding customer experiences.”

The Tyler City Council approved the spending at its regular meeting on Wednesday morning. The training for about 30 employees will start in February and last one year.

Heather Nick, the managing director of planning and economic development for the city of Tyler, said the key employees to be trained are building inspectors, engineers, code enforcement officers, permit technicians and plan reviewers.

Nick told the council on Wednesday she got the idea for the training after attending a national conference of the American Planning Association. She said the training will help regulatory employees “create more helpful, supportive and facilitative relationships for the developers, contractors and citizens.”

Nick used the example of a building inspector, who has a regulatory job, and has to tell a builder the structure is not in compliance with the city’s codes. She said the builder might not be happy, and it might be hard for a building inspector in that situation to view the person being regulated as a customer.

“Our goal in this program is to provide our inspectors as well as our other development-related employees with the skills to not just simply enforce the codes, but to effectively assist our customers in obtaining code compliance and achieve their goals,” Nick said.

“Some may feel that this is not the role of the regulator, but in fact enforcement is possible while still treating each customer with care and concern, and that’s what this particular program is all about,” she said.

City council members were enthusiastic about the program.

“There’s nothing like customer satisfaction," District 4 City Councilman Don Warren said.

District 6 City Councilman John Nix asked Nick if she could expand the program to train water and sewer workers, who inspect pipes on new development and construction.

Nick said she would add those employees to the training.

District 5 Councilman Bob Westbrook said he was really excited about the project.

“Coming from the hospitality industry, you can never have too much customer service training,” Westbrook said. “Already, the greatest asset we have as a city is our team, or our employees, and to give them the additional tools they need to provide a better customer experience, it’s just a win-win.”

The spending item passed unanimously in a voice vote.

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