Audit finds Paradise building permit process ‘deficient’

PARADISE — Four Paradise Building Division employees returned to work Monday after being put on paid leave due to an administrative audit.

The employees — the division director and three inspectors — went on leave Aug. 21. The audit stemmed in part from issues related to owner-builder permits, said Town Manager Mike O’Brien. While he said the audit found no illegal wrongdoing on the staff side of things, the audit found issues relating to the division’s permitting process.

“One of the findings was that we were deficient in how we were processing those permits,” O’Brien said.

Owner-builder permits allow property owners to act as the contractor on their property. O’Brien said the town had “an inordinate amount” of these contracts, “and that can be a little tricky.”

The independent audit