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Kankakee building department to start new permitting software; May permits brought in $27,748.61
Summary
Committee learned the building department will begin transitioning to new permitting software the week of the 23rd and that the department processed 137 permits in May, generating $27,748.61 in permit fees; members raised usability and access concerns.
Kankakee City’s Building and Code Safety Committee heard that the department will begin transitioning to a new permitting and adjudication software the week of the 23rd of June and reviewed May permit activity that produced $27,748.61 in fees from 137 permits.
Director Nelson told the committee the department remains on its current system and will start building and training on the new software during the week of the 23rd. Members noted the new system is the same software used by the county and cautioned that search and lookup functionality can be cumbersome unless the database is structured properly; one committee member said looking up records in the county system required precise last-name, comma formatting.
The department’s monthly permits report showed 137 permits issued in May with total collections of $27,748.61. The committee received the nine-page permit report and a 10-page adjudication report intended to help aldermen track cases in their wards.
Committee members also discussed operational items: Director Nelson provided a list of code officers and contact information in the meeting packet; members asked whether officers carry city cell phones and whether aldermen should have more direct contact numbers for officers in their wards. Several members expressed concern that publishing field staff cell numbers could generate excessive direct calls from residents and recommended routing issues through Director Nelson or the officers’ supervisors so the department could track complaints and follow up.
The committee also heard a staffing note that the department is fully staffed and that Director Nelson had emailed the list of code officers. There were no formal motions on the software transition or the permit report; members asked staff to circulate training plans and to provide the contract documents for the animal-control discussion separately.
Why it matters: The software transition and data structure will affect how the city tracks permits and adjudications, and the May permit revenue represents current fee income for the department.
Next steps: Staff will begin training the week of the 23rd and provide committee members with training details and any user-access information; the department said it will continue to share permit and adjudication reports in the committee packet.
