Phase 1 Environmental Report

I would consider reasonable effort to mean more attempts to contact officials than that. At a minimum I would have some written attempts to contact the official either fax, e-mail or snail mail.

Why was the official unavailable?

It’s often difficult to contact some people, especially since it’s summer and holidays can take people away for a couple of weeks at a time.

Is there another official who would have the same information and was that official contacted? It could be the first officials assistant or superior.





Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

How much did the report cost? What else did the report contain?

I would agree that 3 calls in one day does not signify a "reasonable effort" to me, but remember that time is money. Some of these reports are going for less than I would consider a fair fee. Corners are bound to be cut...

The telephone interview report was provided as an "alternate" report since there was no Sanborn Map coverage for the site. This was part of a phase 1 package with aerial photos, Sanborn Map, city directory, radius map, etc.

The telephone interview report contained one other inquiry, to the city planner, whom they actually spoke to.

Typically, I don't purchase the telephone interview report, and contact the city/county directly for records.

Further on the point that Focht3 made, the time-line demands are often ridiculous. An ESA on a property is commonly a requirement for financing with "subject to" clauses on a deal expiring well before a detailed and thorough assessment can be made. As RKD suggests, components of the report may require input from local authorities, etc. and their response turn around time is beyond your control.

I'm a little confused regarding the interpretation of the term "a reasonable attempt shall be made to interview..." as it pertains to obtaining information from the bureaucrat, aka. government official. Who is the environment report being generated for, a client or another bureaucrat? I assume this report is required due to a specified approval process, which government (Municipal or State) agancy is reviewing the report submission?

I ask because the term "reasonable attempt" will carry different meanings. Speaking for myself, as a former (and I stress former) senior municipal bureaucrat, I would suggest that an attempt for interview should be to try to arrange a meeting with either that individual or his/her designate. You may also want to view your query from a different perspective, depending on the importance of the site and in the event of an "all hell breaks loose" situation, would others (as a hindsight review) likely deem your efforts as reasonable if the statements in the final report come into question?

KRS Services

Is the interview critical to the report? Information can often be gathered from several different sources. Did the official have info unavailable anywhere else?
The standard does not require every possible source be reviewed. Some professional judgement is required to determine if the assessor has reviewed an adequate number of sources to be able to produce a reliable report.
EDR does not provide complete ESAs-local work is necessary to complete the assessment. You can always tell EDR you think you did not get your money's worth and ask for a refund.

Time and money constraints often dictate how well these reports are done. It sounds like you contracted with a service for the work. They may have a clause in their contract that defines what reasonable attempt means to them.
Reasonable attempt is really wide open to interpretation, with nobody's interpretation being incorrect unless the term is specifically defined somewhere.

ALSO, It may be that they know that this person they tried to contact wasn't in place long enough to know any details that would contribute significant information to the report, but they tried to contact him as a standard operating procedure anyway. OR, the site was obviously clean or obviously dirty in which case the extra information wasn't even needed.

I think that if you want future reports to include this information or you want future report writers to make more of an effort, then you'll have to write up your own scope of work that defines exactly how you want the report researched, written and delivered.

Call EDR. They have great customer service and work hard to keep people happy.

According to the Phase I training course put on by ASTM, there is no industry standard for a reasonable attempt. A resonable attempt to interview can simply be mailing someone a questionairre. However, it is generally accepted practice that if contacting by phone, at a minimum you must attempt on more than one day -- anyone can be out of the office for a day.