San Juan County Building Official Nominated to Head Community Development and Planning

Rene Beliveau

By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager

The San Juan County Council is expected to confirm the appointment of County Building Official Rene Beliveau as Director of the Community Development and Planning Department (CDPD) at its January 5 meeting. The move would effectively combine the positions of department director and County Building Official, and move the reorganization of the department closer to completion.

The CDPD depends almost entirely on land use and permitting fees to fund its operation. In 2009 it went through a series of cutbacks as construction activity slumped along with the local and national economy. The 2010 County budget calls for the department’s staff level to remain 5 positions smaller than at the beginning of 2009 and its entire natural resources staff will be funded with grants.

Last July, at County Administrator Pete Rose’s recommendation, the CDPD director’s position was eliminated and administration of the department was temporarily combined with the Health and Community Services Department under John Manning.

“John, I and the CDPD staff looked carefully at the department from the ground up; at what was needed and where we could find efficiencies. In the end we felt that establishing more clearly defined functional units:  planning, permitting and inspection, natural resources, and office/records management would improve the department’s performance.”

Both Rose and Beliveau say that one of the top priorities for the coming year will be improving systems for tracking and managing the thousands of plans, maps and other documents the department handles each year, and the tens of thousands of documents in its archives.

Beliveau will continue to fulfill the role of County Building Official while taking responsibility for the Department’s overall operation. Senior Planner Shireene Hale has already been named head of the planning section. Other section heads will be named after the Council acts on Beliveau’s appointment.

Beliveau became San Juan County’s building official in 2006, having held a similar position in Golden, Colorado. He and his wife live on San Juan Island. He says that after his adult son came to visit them from Colorado, he decided to move here as well.