11.
Combined City Council Work Session/Special Meeting - AMENDED
- Meeting Date:
- 12/13/2022
- From:
- Jack Fitchett, Business Attraction Manager
- Department:
- Economic Vitality
Co-Submitter:
TITLE:
Business One Stop Shop (BOSS) - Update
DESIRED OUTCOME:
An update regarding progress for the Business One Stop Shop System (BOSS). This update will include progress related to a new website and internal processes that improves developer and business experience with the City of Flagstaff.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Business One Stop Shop (BOSS):
Background: This agenda item is a progress update related to Councilmember Salas's FAIR item. The goal of implementing a BOSS system is to find efficiencies and streamline specific processes related to City provided development and business services. Additionally, an effective BOSS system easily allows developers and businesses to access a variety of information in one easily accessible location.
Staff has created a cross-divisional team tasked with tackling several facets related to the BOSS concept.
The City of Flagstaff is currently working with our main website provider, Civic Plus, to help design a new landing page for the BOSS system. The updated website will be a landing page for many city resources where developers and business owners will be able to easily find information and navigate our planning process. Additionally, licensing, permitting, and economic development information will also be easily accessible from this new webpage.
An updated contract is currently under review with our legal and procurement teams and once this contract is executed the timeline for completion of this website is estimated to be 12-14 weeks. The overall cost is estimated to be $7,500 for the one-time implementation of the site with yearly operating costs estimated to be $1,000.
In coordination with BOSS, the Citizen Access Portal is also a major aspect that also enhances business and developer efficiencies through our planning process.
Citizen Access Portal:
The Citizen Access (CA) portal was part of the original plan when we implemented the Innoprise permitting software in June 2015. At that time, the CA software was newly developed and had several glitches, along with a lack of staff knowledge of the module on the Harris developer side of things, this was not ready to be an effective tool for the City. Fast forward to March of 2020, when COVID-19 shut down all in-person operations and all submittals for all applications were still being submitted via paper, which was not an efficient or effective process due to the staff time associated with processing these requests in a work from home setting. It quickly became apparent that we needed a different solution, one that did not rely on receiving an email (which were often getting pushed back due to size limitations) and playing phone tag. With the help of Becky Cardiff and Dave Millis, we were able to successfully implement CA and started taking permits in April of 2021 allowing staff to take advantage of this tool while also improving operations during COVID.
CA allows for all building permits including over the counter, roofing, manufactured homes, solar, minor improvements (fences, decks, sheds), signs, and Right of Way permits to be submitted electronically through the portal. This also allows for all permit fees to be paid via the portal and the issuance of permits along with receiving stamp approved plans via the portal. The online portal has streamlined the submittal and issuance process, has cut down on the amount of time an applicant spends coming into City Hall along with eliminating the amount of paper waste.
These items complete phase one of implementation of the BOSS concept. Starting in 2023 phase two will begin and will be headed by another cross divisional team. This team will focus on streamlining additional building safety permitting services that relate to minor improvements and finding additional functionality for services to the business community.
Background: This agenda item is a progress update related to Councilmember Salas's FAIR item. The goal of implementing a BOSS system is to find efficiencies and streamline specific processes related to City provided development and business services. Additionally, an effective BOSS system easily allows developers and businesses to access a variety of information in one easily accessible location.
Staff has created a cross-divisional team tasked with tackling several facets related to the BOSS concept.
The City of Flagstaff is currently working with our main website provider, Civic Plus, to help design a new landing page for the BOSS system. The updated website will be a landing page for many city resources where developers and business owners will be able to easily find information and navigate our planning process. Additionally, licensing, permitting, and economic development information will also be easily accessible from this new webpage.
An updated contract is currently under review with our legal and procurement teams and once this contract is executed the timeline for completion of this website is estimated to be 12-14 weeks. The overall cost is estimated to be $7,500 for the one-time implementation of the site with yearly operating costs estimated to be $1,000.
In coordination with BOSS, the Citizen Access Portal is also a major aspect that also enhances business and developer efficiencies through our planning process.
Citizen Access Portal:
The Citizen Access (CA) portal was part of the original plan when we implemented the Innoprise permitting software in June 2015. At that time, the CA software was newly developed and had several glitches, along with a lack of staff knowledge of the module on the Harris developer side of things, this was not ready to be an effective tool for the City. Fast forward to March of 2020, when COVID-19 shut down all in-person operations and all submittals for all applications were still being submitted via paper, which was not an efficient or effective process due to the staff time associated with processing these requests in a work from home setting. It quickly became apparent that we needed a different solution, one that did not rely on receiving an email (which were often getting pushed back due to size limitations) and playing phone tag. With the help of Becky Cardiff and Dave Millis, we were able to successfully implement CA and started taking permits in April of 2021 allowing staff to take advantage of this tool while also improving operations during COVID.
CA allows for all building permits including over the counter, roofing, manufactured homes, solar, minor improvements (fences, decks, sheds), signs, and Right of Way permits to be submitted electronically through the portal. This also allows for all permit fees to be paid via the portal and the issuance of permits along with receiving stamp approved plans via the portal. The online portal has streamlined the submittal and issuance process, has cut down on the amount of time an applicant spends coming into City Hall along with eliminating the amount of paper waste.
These items complete phase one of implementation of the BOSS concept. Starting in 2023 phase two will begin and will be headed by another cross divisional team. This team will focus on streamlining additional building safety permitting services that relate to minor improvements and finding additional functionality for services to the business community.