BasicGov / BLOG

This week there was an article about the City of Galveston, Texas (population 50K+) and how it is changing its permitting and code process to speed up the rebuilding several years after the devastation caused by Hurricane Ike.

Prompted by disgruntled developers, trade groups and businesses, the City has made some changes using software to streamline its processes as well as opened up dialogue with residents and businesses to change processes.

Here’s an example of changes that the City has made and plans to make to be more responsive (see source):

• Geographic Information System maps of the island now available online.
• Builders, developers and residents no longer have to go to city hall to research code compliance districts, building inspection districts, Federal Emergency Management Agency floodplain maps, zoning and zoning overlay district maps, points of interest such as churches, child care and parks, historic districts and building permit activity.
• Launch a public online permit tracking system and to make online permitting for such trades as mechanical, electrical and plumbing available online by July 1.

There are thousands of other cities that are doing similar changes.

Attend a free webinar and learn how the City of Beaumont, California has streamlined and sped up its planning, permitting, and code process.

Click to register.

On April 14, 2011 at 11 am PST /2 pm EST, BasicGov is hosting a complimentary webinar with the City of Beaumont, California. In the webinar participants will learn how Beaumont made the decision to move to a cloud computing / web-based system (click to read more about what they are using).

The webinar will also provide participants with an overview of how to improve municipal planning and building permits processes with affordable technology, with or without internal IT support.

• Register for this free webinar here https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/228597736

The webinar will demo Planning software that:
• Tracks dates and milestones online
• Automatically schedules notifications, proceedings, hearings and other critical deadlines
• Reports on project status to multi-users and multiple departments
• Provides access to information in the office or field

The webinar will also demo Permits & Inspections software that: 
• Automates scheduling of field inspections and reviews
• Prints permit related documents in seconds
• Provides access to permit history in multiple departments, in the office or field
• Reports with dashboard to show work completed or outstanding