Thank you DSD for providing feedback to the Goal One committee on the City’s new Administrative Directive 1.4, Municipal Facilities Energy Policy. Effective as of January 2022, the new AD is intended to minimize energy consumption in all municipal-owned like the One Stop. This requires departments to provide common space for refrigerators, coffee makers, toasters, and microwaves, necessitating the removal of personal appliances. The committee received over 175 responses and is on track to provide the director this month with short- and long-term recommendations to make sure that the One Stop complies with this AD. Reducing energy consumption is a good thing, but we are working hard to make sure that proposed solutions meet the spirit of the AD while providing the necessary assistance and amenities for staff.

In addition, some of you will notice that Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) staff are no longer housed at the One Stop. Beginning in April, OHP staff have joined other COSA departments relocated to City Tower. Support Services staff will work with BES to assess any cleaning needs in the former OHP area while providing the director with recommendations for space planning and uses in this central building area and throughout the facility. Stay tuned for more updates!

In March, Development Services bid farewell to Angela Davila, Special Projects Manager in the Support Services Division. Angela joined the DSD family in August 2016 and hit the ground running with the department’s 2015 ISO accreditation process. During her time with DSD, Angela continued to play a key role in our IAS/ISO accreditation exercises, led the performance management team through the Accela implementation and was instrumental in the development of reports in BuildSA. We wish Angela the best of luck in her new role as a Special Projects Manager on the Continuous Improvement Team at Public Works.

We also bid farewell to a few other folks throughout the department:

DSD is part of a long-term citywide effort to review our policies and practices regarding DATA - how we handle it, how we use it, and how we communicate to our stakeholders (including you) its importance in the conduct of our regular business operations. Every month we will be highlighting one of the eight “core principles” of the City’s Data-Informed Government program. This month: transparency and accountability.

Our department offers most of our public services online – most notably through BuildSA platform, which allows our customers to apply for permits without having to visit the One Stop. Through platforms like the Accela Citizen Access portal, the department website, and COSA websites like Open Data SA and the Open Government portal for open records requests, we use our technology to promote an open and accessible government.

By default, the majority of our data is classified as open or public, although at times some data we handle for our customers and our staff can be classified as sensitive and/or confidential based on existing COSA, state or federal protections (e.g. SAP #s, drivers’ license numbers, etc.). As a public entity we also pledge to only collect data that is adequate, relevant, and necessary to achieve our clearly specific public interests.

All City departments are each responsible for following best practices within their respective services, operations, and all business-related processes to maintain transparency and accountability in our data. For more information, please read COSA AD 7.3a, Data Security, AD 7.12, Data Governance, and/or reach out to the DSD Support Services team.

Microsoft Teams is a great way to share files, coauthor, and edit content simultaneously with your teammates. You can open a shared filed directly within Teams – but if you had one or more active chats, switching between the file and your chats can be a hassle.

If you are viewing an Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint presentation, or Word document, you have the option to “open in desktop app,” which is available by the file’s menu ribbon (generally under the Teams search bar). Clicking on this will – wait for it – open the file in the desktop version of the application. You can now view or edit the file and fling through your chats as needed. What’s more, in the desktop version of the Office application, from the File/Home menu, you have the option to “pin” the file which provides a shortcut for later viewing/editing.

For additional information, including videos, ideas and help, visit ITSD’s Microsoft Teams product page on cosaweb.

If you have a COSA-issued laptop, chances are your office set-up includes dual monitors and a dock you can connect your laptop to. Don't use the power brick for the dock to charge your laptop, and vice versa. Using the wrong power adapter can severely damage your devices and potentially cause a fire.

The image here shows a ruined battery from a laptop brought in for troubleshooting. Lesson is don't mix & match when it comes to your laptop!

Sign Code (Ch. 28) - beginning this month, we will begin reviewing the Sign Code to ensure the most current international, national, and industry safety codes are being used. This code is updated every five years and relates to billboards, signage on buildings, along with other types. This review and adoption process allows for the latest constructions methods to be identified and offers new options for compliance. 

San Antonio Property Maintenance Code (SAMPC) – also beginning in April, the SAPMC is updated every three years and is based on the International Code Council’s (ICC) International Property Maintenance Code. This code is intended to ensure public health, safety and welfare of residents and community. The SAPMC applies to all existing residential and commercial buildings and structures, establishing minimum standards for: 

All code review meetings will be streamed live. Both items are tentatively scheduled to go to City Council later this year in October. 

In March, our department became an International Code Council (ICC) Preferred Provider with an inaugural offering of Inspector Skills by Michael Constantino, Development Services Administrator in the Field Services Division. This program recognizes and promotes ICC-approved educational courses offered by a variety of education providers, focusing on the areas of construction codes, standards and guidelines, as well as building construction materials, products and methods.

Through participation in the network, DSD can communicate our programs, services and products to ICC’s broad audience of members and customers. ICC certificate holders can obtain CEUs from Preferred Providers that can be applied toward certification renewal requirements. And, as laid out in the department’s Strategic Training Plan, joining the network is a crucial first step in the department’s goal of creating an ICC chapter for our area. “This is a great opportunity for DSD subject matter experts to share their knowledge of the codes and for staff to received CEUs,” said Charlotte Barrett, Special Projects Manager in the Support Services Division. “Eventually, these experts could train other organizations through a future ICC chapter.”

Being part of the network opens the door for DSD staff like Michael and others to share their knowledge with fellow DSD staff and eventually staff from other building departments. Michael’s Inspector Skills course focuses on raising awareness of the importance of “soft” skills like effective communications and to provide guidance toward recognizing and improving those skills as our staff communicate with builders, contractors, homeowners and the development community at-large. “You can be the greatest technical inspector we have, but without excellent customer service, you will not work out for us, period,” commented Michael. “After this course, you will understand the inspector profession much better, and the role and expectation as a critical partner with our community.”

We are hiring at DSD! Please feel free to share the news and let your friends and neighbors know we are looking for some help. Check out the job opportunities at the City Career Center web site.

Tell your coworker how much you appreciate their help and give them an EnCORE card.