Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Rebecca Romara told the City Services and Environmental Policy Committee on July 17 that the city has selected Granicus’ SmartGov solution to replace the current licensing-and-permitting platform.

Romara said the city conducted a competitive RFP with more than 20 responders, narrowed that list for demonstration to four and then two finalists. After staff and end-user presentations, Granicus was selected in part because the vendor currently hosts the city’s Legistar and websites. Romara told the committee the initial implementation is mid-year, which makes the contract a multiyear agreement for procurement purposes; after implementation, the software would move to annual licensing and maintenance renewals under the city’s procurement rules. “We do hope to have it up and online for our health renewals, which are in the spring of next year,” Romara said.

Committee members pressed for detail on user testing, integration with existing systems and costs. Romara said first-year implementation (including licensing) “will not exceed $265,000” and will come from capital funds; subsequent annual licensing would be budgeted to the IT contracts line. She told the committee that the chosen product will allow staff to build reports and dashboards without vendor change orders — an explicit cost-savings argument — and that the new system will pre-populate customer fields year-to-year and retain consistent license numbers.

Alders asked about integration with the health department and with City Square (a separate permitting/ payment system). Romara said the health department has participated in requirements and that the new platform will support field reporting and dashboards; she said the LCI system will remain on its current platform for now but could be connected in later phases.

Several Alders suggested a vendor workshop or public demonstration so entrepreneurs and regular users can shape onboarding; Romara said staff had built user feedback into the RFP and that permitting staff participated in finalist demonstrations. The committee did not take action on the contract at the meeting; staff asked that the item be discharged from committee so it can proceed on the Board of Alders schedule and still meet implementation timing.

Ending: Staff will return with final contract terms and implementation schedule; the committee signaled support for the selection but sought more user-facing outreach and a possible workshop before final adoption.