Our company is entertaining a purchase request - as in, selling the entire company to one of our competitors. Things have gotten a little odd as a result, because about 70% of the things that I and many of my coworkers do involve planning ahead for future projects or running reports on past numbers to anticipate how to change future numbers. With the understanding that we will likely not have to worry about that within the next month or two, it has left several people without much to do. Luckily for me, I suppose, my position as Paperwork and Executive Wrangler (not my official title) means that there is a whole tidal wave of other ducks that need wrangled in order for the sale to go through. One of my hats is I-Dotter and T-Crosser, and we have found literally decades of un-dotted and -crossed things that could heavily complicate the process.
One example that cropped up recently was that someone had applied for a sign permit at one of our sites back a few years ago but not closed it out. At first glance, this was not terribly out of the ordinary - our signage contractor has a habit of not finalizing permits, so we sent them a note to take care of it. After a bit, they replied that it was not them: they had called the county, who said it was a "cosmetic" permit, and gave the name of the person who'd applied. After some searching, we discovered it was a client who'd rented space from us at this location for all of one month, and whose internet presence revealed they are... a make-up artist.
Odd, but not the strangest thing I've dealt with. I called the county and explained the situation, thinking this would be an open and shut case: the permit application was never even completed fully, it wasn't requested by the owner or even a developer, let's get it closed and done with.
BUT NO, of course it can't be that easy. Despite the fact that when we, the owners, apply for permits, we are required to send notarized statements and recorded proof that we are, in fact, the owners, and we give ourselves permission to open permits on our own property... somehow, this person got far enough along in the process that the county wouldn't just cancel the application. Instead, we had to send a formal request on letterhead explaining the situation and proof - in the form of a recorded instrument of law - showing that we are, in fact, the owners since ten years before this person ever rented from us; once we do that, they will examine the paperwork and make a decision on whether or not to cancel the permit application.
Luckily, I have access to records, and the boss was in the office to sign a letter on letterhead and scan it to me, but it definitely felt like the county was focusing on the wrong aspect of the process. Perhaps a case of closing the gate after the cows got out, so now they're being extra-vigilant… just annoying timing for me.
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