The Honolulu City Council postponed considering initiating a comprehensive city audit on the Department of Planning and Permitting to give the agency two months to solve some of its issues, such as delayed permits.

Deputy Managing Director Krishna Jayaram recommended that the Council not initiate an audit on the department because he said it would create more work for the department and could impede its progress in addressing the already identified issues.

“Given the fact that there is so much change going on, our observation is that in the midst of all this change, we think that having the auditor come in to look at our processes that are changing could be counterproductive,” Jayaram said during Tuesday’s Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee meeting.

DPP has put out a request for proposals for a consultant to assist acting Director Dawn Takeuchi in looking at the department’s organizational structure, processes and workloads. Takeuchi is also putting together a task force of stakeholders to help advise departmental decisions.

Takeuchi said the department would look into resuming third-party review certi­- fications, which allowed building professionals to take a test and then be allowed to sign off on plans. The department is also preparing a request for proposals to replace the e-plans system, which has been criticized by many for being problematic to use.

Additionally, DPP expected its new bot technology system, which would approve the pre-screening of permit applications, to be online within the next two to three weeks.

“I made that permitting a priority. That is our top priority, and so I’m meeting with all my division heads and we’ve been really trying to dig in and figure out what the issues are,” Takeuchi said.

Council Chair Tommy Waters, who introduced the measure, said an audit was one of the ways the Council could do something about the troubled department.

“I’m trying to help DPP, and the auditor is our tool to get that type of information that we need … because the complaints, this is what I’m hearing, this is the worst it’s ever been. That’s the truth,” he said.

“If we (delay), then we’re doing nothing. The Council is doing nothing, and we’re waiting for them to get on the ball.”

Waters said the audit should not be deferred, but left it to committee Chair Andria Tupola to decide whether the measure should be postponed. Tupola gave DPP two months to report progress. If there is no progress, she agreed to let the resolution initiating an audit to be voted on.