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If you want to gauge the vitality of building activity in Portland, the city’s Bureau of Development Services is a good place to start.

During the recession, as construction ground to a halt, the bureau found itself facing a serious financial shortfall. A lack of projects meant that the permit fees that make up about 95 percent of the bureau’s operating budget dried up. As a result, the BDS was forced to trim its staff numbers from 315 to 145, according to Paul Scarlett, the bureau’s director.

Last year, though, developers and building industry professionals rejoiced when construction cranes began to rise once again against the city’s skyline, and the bureau announced that with the help of City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, it had received approval to begin refilling some of the empty positions.

Some of the recent BDS hires are former bureau employees who had been lost to layoffs. Others are new faces. But they all have one thing in common in addition to their ease with blueprints and development codes.

鈥淪ince the recession, we’ve really put a lot of emphasis on hiring people who not only know the technical portion of their jobs, but who also focus on customer service, the working relationships,鈥� Scarlett said.

Scarlett understands the value of filling the department with good people.

鈥淲e survived (the impact of the recession) in part because of the compassion and high level of commitment of our employees,鈥� he said.

Even though the number of employees is increasing, Scarlett says the bureau is still looking at ways to continue efforts started during the recession to streamline processes.

The bureau recently conducted an internal survey that will be used to help find out what is and what isn’t working, especially for new employees. Even something as simple as creating a suggestion box can make a big difference, Scarlett said.

There are also strides being made to implement a high-tech system for tracking permits that will give customers around-the-clock access to forms and permits while saving money and reducing a reliance on paper.

The bureau also is in a good place financially.

鈥淭he funding is very strong, and we have a healthy reserve,鈥� Scarlett said. 鈥淲e have reserve goals in some cases of 30 to 35 percent. We have pretty much wiped out deficits in those that we’ve had over the past years.鈥�