Connecticut towns are struggling to fulfill particular job titles, including building inspectors, engineers, and assessors, according to a draft report by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) presented to the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR). 

According to the report, CCM received responses from 39 municipalities of varying sizes who indicated which positions they face the most difficulty filling as part of ACIR’s work to address municipal job recruitment and retention. Half of the towns surveyed said that the position of building inspector has been the most difficult to fill, followed by assessor, engineer, and police officer. 

Part of the problem is a basic lack of applicants, with nearly 89 percent of responders saying there is little interest in these jobs, according to the survey. Responders also pointed to Connecticut’s licensing and accrediting regime as playing a role, with one comment from a surveyed town saying, “licensing is a major hurdle for our recruitment efforts,” and that the “applicant pool is significantly limited due to the lack of qualified applicants.”

While recruiting difficulties faced by both the State of Connecticut and municipalities when it comes to police officers are well known, the draft report by CCM sheds light on hiring issues for less high-profile positions that often require specialized knowledge and training, and offer few opportunities outside of municipal employment, according to George Rafael, associate deputy director for CCM.

“If you get a degree in accounting, you’re probably going to look to work at one of the big firms in the private sector; you have other opportunities, and municipal government may not be your first thought,” Rafael said, indicating they also worked with the Capital Region Council of Governments. “When you’re a building official or an assessor it’s a little bit different. Those are specialized really in the public sector.”

Like accounting in Rafael’s example, engineers are highly sought after, have a wide array of private sector jobs available, and likely don’t think of municipal government as a potential job path.

Reiterating one of the points made by survey respondents, Rafael said CCM does not believe the state is offering training and certification courses as often as it should to get employees who can do these specialized jobs into the pipeline fast enough and replace retiring municipal officials.

“I think part of it is messaging and letting folks know these opportunities exist, part of it is the regulatory certification process and maybe some hindrances there,” Rafael said. “Part of it is the Connecticut workforce just getting older, folks are retiring, and there’s really nobody behind them to take their places.”

The struggle to fill these necessary jobs has towns seeking alternative methods to fill the gap, including sharing building inspectors or assessors; hiring assistants to these positions so those assistants will take over the lead role in the future, and reworking job descriptions to draw in more attention from potential candidates.

In January of 2023, the Department of Administrative Services issued a report to the General Assembly’s Planning and Development Committee with recommendations for apprenticeship and training programs for building officials, based on the finding of a special working group.

Among the recommendations was that Connecticut more easily certify building inspectors from other states who are certified under the International Code Council, noting that Connecticut requires three to five years of construction experience, whereas the ICC does not, and creating an “entry level building official category.” 

“The Working Group recognized that municipalities are experiencing severe difficulties filling vacant building official positions and that in addition to this entry level concept, additional changes could be made to allow for acceptance of building official credentials from the International Code Council and other states,” the report said. “For all current and new building official license classifications, it was agreed that less dependency on experience performing, or supervising construction would improve recruitment outcomes.” 

The report also made recommendations for apprenticeship and higher education programs to offer young people more opportunities in the trades and municipal employment.

“There’s a lot of moving pieces,” Rafael said. “Anything we do we want to get, obviously, union support, we want to get the associations who represent these individuals and these industries, get their support because they’re going to be key to their constituents getting them to buy in.”

John Chaponis, tax assessor for the Town of Colchester and Andover, and past president of the Connecticut Association of Assessing Officers (CAAO), however, says he doesn’t necessarily agree with the survey’s findings and there may be simpler solutions for towns looking to recruit assessors – one of the job classes municipalities had the most difficulty filling.

Chaponis notes that 85 municipalities have hired chief assessors since January of 2020 and 11 municipalities are currently advertising for the position of assessor; those towns and cities who are have problems filling that position may not be offering market rate salaries or may be small towns just looking for a part-time position, which “will always have an uphill battle.” 

“The problem is so blatantly obvious to those of us who do the job, but the municipalities experiencing long-term vacancies are guilty of refusing to pay a market wage,” Chaponis said. “If you do that, you will experience a long-term vacancy as well as send a message to your pool applicants that I do not understand your position or your value.   People want to work where they are appreciated.”

Chaponis also states that working conditions can weigh heavily on a municipality’s ability to recruit assessors, saying some assessors have not been reappointed by mayors for political reasons or refusing to “cut deals” for them, thus being terminated without just cause. 

“Two of the towns with vacancies have been vacant more than 2-3 years and may be vacant for much longer because of the manner in which they treated the prior assessor. Connecticut is a small state and the word (newspaper articles) travel fast,” Chaponis said. “When assessors see a municipality willing to allow their vacancy to go on for years, they view that as a town that does not appreciate the position.”

According to CCM’s survey results, municipalities indicated it would be helpful to receive information or hold a roundtable event on best practices, develop a statewide job board or recruitment website, change the credentialing and licensing requirements for some roles, and streamline the ability to share services – an idea the legislature has been toying with for some time.

“We’re looking at getting the message out about these positions, we’re looking at whether there are hindrances in the regulatory certification process. Are there things we can do with the positions themselves and how the job descriptions are written,” Rafael said. “Big cities and small towns are struggling with the same issues: they just cannot find workers.” 

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