A consultant assessment of Marin County’s Community Development Agency (CDA) presented Oct. 22 recommended a package of operational changes — including new customer‑feedback tools, a countywide permitting technology roadmap and stronger project‑management practices — intended to speed permit review, boost transparency and reduce rework.

KPMG, the consulting firm that led the assessment, told the Board of Supervisors it had completed more than three dozen interviews with internal staff and external stakeholders, benchmarked CDA against comparable counties, and identified 13 recommendations and an implementation roadmap with more than 70 action items. KPMG’s timeline suggested phased work beginning in the current fiscal year and continuing for roughly 24 months.

What KPMG recommended: The report highlights four priority areas for CDA: expand client feedback mechanisms and consider a customer‑relationship management (CRM) tool; perform a technology modernization analysis to reduce manual data reentry and improve reporting; strengthen centralized project tracking and designate project planners as project managers; and coordinate policy reviews with the County Executive’s Office (OCE) so that planning, enforcement and the housing element align with board priorities.

CDA Director Sarah Jones told the board staff support the report’s customer‑service focus and agreed the department’s legacy systems and processes hamper work. “Staff wants to be equipped. They wanna be prepared. They wanna know the goal,” Jones said, adding that CDA staff are subject‑matter experts in planning, building and environmental health but will need outside support for systems engineering and change management.

KPMG also included a case study on the agency’s Environmental Health Services (EHS) division, recommending more proactive education for permit applicants, digitizing paper‑based inspection processes and clarifying staff contact points so outside applicants do not receive inconsistent answers.

Board reaction: Supervisors praised the report’s focus on customer service and operational clarity. Supervisor Colbert said the assessment should guide measures of customer satisfaction and operational transparency. Supervisor Milton Peters, whose district contains a large unincorporated population, emphasized that immediate, day‑to‑day permit processing must improve while the department pursues longer‑term modernization.

Deputy County Executive Crosby Burns said his office will support digital initiatives, help convene peers in other counties to learn best practices, and provide project‑management capacity to implement recommendations.

No formal board action recorded: County staff asked the board to accept the report and to provide guidance on implementation priorities; the transcript records discussion but no formal roll‑call vote to adopt or fund the implementation plan during the Oct. 22 session. County staff said they will return with an implementation roadmap and budget recommendations during the regular budget process.

Why it matters: CDA processes touch most county residents and businesses through permitting, code enforcement, environmental health and housing work. The report frames technology, customer feedback and clarified staffing roles as prerequisites for measuring performance and answering whether fee‑recovery or other funding changes will be needed once processes are optimized.

What to watch next: KPMG’s recommendations are slated to feed into the county’s budget cycle and the countywide organizational‑excellence effort; county staff said they will present an implementation plan and progress updates to the Board of Supervisors as work proceeds.