Supervisor: N. Hempstead Reviewing Progress on Building Department

(Photo: Town of North Hempstead) North Hempstead Town Hall

North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena and the Town Board recently reviewed progress on the latest reform initiatives from the Department of Building, Inspection, Safety, and Enforcement. In September 2024, DeSena announced a series of department-wide initiatives to address some of its longstanding systemic problems on the heels of an external audit she requested from Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips.

“I knew that undoing a culture that had been entrenched for over 20 years would be a challenge,” DeSena said. “We put together a comprehensive list of reforms that will break down the wall between residents and the department, and I want residents to know about the significant progress we’ve made these first few months.”

Among the most important goals was redesigning communication, particularly the inbound phone system, which is the first point of contact for most residents and contractors.

“The first thing we did was make it easier for people to communicate with the department and to get answers in a timely fashion,” Building Department Deputy Commissioner Steven Haramis said.

To that end, a new Help Desk phone number was added and is being published on all the department’s correspondence and electronic communications. The new Help Desk number at (516) 869-7660. In addition, the new number allows residents to directly access the department’s help center during regular business hours instead of being routed through the town’s 311 system. Calls to the Help Desk are answered by a live operator who will transfer callers to an inspector for assistance. If residents dial the town’s 311 number, those operators will also route calls to the new Help Desk.

“Every single one of these calls is automatically logged by the phone system, and a report is generated each day so I can follow up on what action is being taken,” Haramis explained.

DeSena also announced a new “open-door” policy for the department, breaking with a culture that had long prevented direct department access. Homeowners and contractors can now make preliminary appointments with department specialists ahead of submitting formal building plans and documents. These plans are often subject to numerous changes, so residents can now seek information and guidance beforehand to avoid potential mistakes or revisions down the line.

“Many residents and contractors have struggled to complete building projects here for years,” DeSena added. “We’re now making that process as painless and efficient as possible.”

Additionally, the department addressed proper workload division and building inspector assignments. For years, the town was criticized for distributing workloads into rigid “inspector areas,” essentially assigning all work in any given district to just one inspector. Critics said the practice lent itself to favoritism and political influence and ultimately created unfair work distribution amongst staff.

Councilman Dennis Walsh noted, “No other municipality does this because it makes absolutely no sense. Abandoning that practice is a must.”

That system has now been eliminated. Under new procedures, inspectors are routinely rotated through all council districts. Additionally, staff are being “cross-trained” to specialize in multiple department functions so that no one staff member handles just one part of any process, avoiding potential availability delays.

DeSena added that the department’s staff is also preparing to digitize all building department records in anticipation of the board’s selection of new digital scanning services. This will allow inspectors both in-office and remote access instead of searching physical paper records. Staff have already started prioritizing and culling tens of thousands of paper records to eliminate duplicates and cut down the time and costs of digitization. All original records will be saved.