Last year the building department issued 3,500 commercial and 370 residential permits. The water and sewer department approved about 400 permits but is on track to issue about 600 this year.
Water and Sewer Department Director Bob Leventry told the commissioners the new technology will allow the county to employ e-government services that are considered best practices in today’s world.
“Accela Citizens Access will allow Butler County to launch a web portal, kind of a doorway, that will allow the business community to view permit status, apply for permits online, make permit payments, request inspections for building and water and sewer permitting and other on-line activities,” he said. “This will allow online activities 24 hours per day, seven days a week. The web portal will significantly reduce the number of office visits and face-to-face time.”
Leventry said in the future they can expand the portal to include license renewals of any kind, miscellaneous permitting and service requests.
Commissioner T.C. Rogers said the move will make his “builder brethren” very happy.
“I think it’s a real leap forward that Butler County is the best place to build,” he said.
Dan Dressman, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati said other than the city of Cincinnati he isn’t aware of any other community offering this service, and it is a good one.
“One of the biggest complaints we hear from builders is the timeliness of the permitting process,” Dressman said. “Some communities are better than others. It eliminates the phone tag that typically goes on when people are following up on their permits. By automating the process I think it improves the speed from application to approval.”
Commissioner Don Dixon said the web portal will bring important services to the taxpayers and will ultimately save money.
“It’s saves labor and personnel. Not only will it deliver better services, quicker services, 24-hour-a-day access to the builders and homeowners, it really is a tax savings item,” he said.
Development Director David Fehr said he realizes the price tag is a bit steep, but they included in the contract provisions for county employees to be trained on the software so they won’t need to be so reliant on Accela. He said while it sounds ambitious, the company has assured him they can get the project completed by the end of the year.
County Administrator Charlie Young said the online services won’t mean they will be shedding staff. Dixon had mentioned they will save on salaries, benefits and other labor costs with the new tool. He said the portal will free up staff who currently handle public interaction — and its not to say someone can’t visit the offices — to do other important tasks.
“It’s one of these things where we’re bringing technology to bear instead bringing on additional labor costs,” he said. “This is something that there is simply more work than we’re able to get to. We want to serve our citizens better, in order to do that we see this as a way to do it without increasing our costs.”
Fehr said his three front desk people would have more time to help customers if they aren’t always having to answer phones and look up permit status. Leventry said the new tool is more of a customer service enhancement than cost saving effort.
“I don’t have annual savings for it,” he said. “It’s actually more of a customer service than I think it is going to be a savings. On down the road you might not have to replace one of those front line clerking positions in either the building department or in our permitting department. We really have to see what kind of system we wind up with and see what kind of savings result.”
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