Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Digital Permitting topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Building staff tell Lexington County appeals board they are migrating to cloud system, expanding Bluebeam use and addressing inspection communication
Summary
Staff described migration to a cloud-based permitting system, expanded use of Bluebeam for plan review, issuance of iPads to inspectors, ongoing glitches with email notifications and inspector scheduling, and said a plan-review table recently arrived.
Building department staff updated the Lexington County Bill and Code Board of Appeals on ongoing changes to permitting and inspections technology and on communication practices with permit applicants.
Staff said the department is migrating its current permitting software to a cloud-based system and planning a customer portal as the next step. “Our goal is hopefully within the next 6 to 9 months, we're gonna go pretty much as paperless as possible,” a staff member said. The department has given many plan-review staff access to Bluebeam, an electronic plan-review tool, and said a residential plan-review table arrived for subdivision reviews.
Staff also said field inspectors now have iPads for use in the field and that the department is working through glitches related to inspectors accessing the new system from those devices. Staff described inspectors as “strung out pretty thin” given current workloads; an exact daily inspection count referenced during the meeting was not clear from the record. Board members and attendees discussed ways to improve communications when inspections are completed. One attendee asked whether inspection results are emailed; staff said email notifications depend on the contact information entered in the user account and acknowledged that emails sometimes land in junk folders. Staff advised that results also appear in the customer portal and that applicants can request screenshots before submission to confirm status.
During new business, a board member asked about liability insurance for the board. A staff member said the board is covered under the county’s umbrella policy and that representation would be handled through the county attorney if an issue arose.
Board members said better direct contact with inspectors—on occasion speaking with the inspector at the job site—would help with accessibility and clarify timing, and staff agreed to continue addressing scheduling and notification issues.
