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Council approves contract increase for EPL land-use software support; staff to seek longer-term solution
Summary
The council approved an increase to an existing contract for outside IT support for the city's EPL land management system and authorized continued work while staff develops a longer-term technical solution.
Seal Beach 'The City Council on Aug. 11 approved a contract amendment to continue outside technical support for the city's EPL land-management platform, which staff said continues to require frequent vendor and consultant assistance.
Director Schmittel (staff) told the council EPL is the city's online land management system used by planning, building, code enforcement and engineering, and described recurring operational issues since implementation nearly a year ago. Staff said the vendor's lower-tier support is limited in responsiveness and that the city's single in-house IT staff lacks bandwidth to manage backend fixes. "EPL is our land management plan that we use for development services," the presenter said; "...it suffers the ability to move things expeditiously. We need a lot of technological support to manage this program."
Why it matters: EPL is the public-facing permitting and land-use platform residents and applicants use to apply for permits, view project documents and process special-event permits. Staff said continuing contractor support is necessary to keep the service running while a permanent internal or vendor-based solution is developed.
Council action: After public discussion and questions from council, the council approved the contract increase for continued technical assistance (Holistic consultant and Tyler vendor support) by a unanimous vote (5-0). Mayor Eilisa Landau made the motion to approve the pulled consent item; Council member Kalmick seconded. Council members stressed the need for a long-term, cost-effective plan and directed staff to return with options for a sustainable support model.
Clarifying detail: Staff said they are exploring alternatives; complete migration to a different land-use management platform was said to be expensive and likely costlier than stabilizing the current system and training staff.
Ending: The council authorized continued outside support so staff can stabilize the software and design a long-term approach that may include additional training or a restructured support agreement with the vendor.
