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Lake Forest Park staff recommend switching permit tracking to iWORKS; council seeks added contract details
Summary
Community Development Director Mark Hoffman presented a proposal to move the city’s permit tracking from multiple vendors to iWORKS under a three‑year professional services agreement; council members asked that the contract include term and dollar amount language before final authorization.
Community Development Director Mark Hoffman told the Committee of the Whole on May 19 that the city plans to move its permit‑tracking functions to iWORKS and is seeking authorization for the mayor to sign a three‑year professional services agreement.
The proposal would replace a mix of Exela, Avicet and Elavon systems with a single vendor iWORKS for building, planning and right‑of‑way permits. "Currently, we use a combination of Exela, Avicet, and Elavon to perform that function," Hoffman said. He told the committee that iWORKS is "right sized" for a small, primarily residential city going digital and that the vendor described daily off‑site backups and a plan to restore operations within 24 hours after an event.
Why it matters: City staff said the change would centralize permit workflows, reduce paper processing and produce cost savings in ongoing operations. Council members expressed support in principle but requested clearer contract language before formal authorization.
Councilmember Liebeau asked that the resolution explicitly include the contract term and price for administrative clarity; Hoffman agreed to add the term and the dollar amount to the resolution for the council packet. Councilmember Riddle asked whether the system is sized to meet the city's needs over time; Hoffman responded the current draft is a three‑year term paid annually and that he does not anticipate the city outgrowing the system for the foreseeable future.
The item was introduced to the Committee of the Whole and scheduled for council consideration on May 22. No formal committee vote was recorded at the May 19 meeting; the presentation and the requested clarifications were the primary outcomes of the discussion. Hoffman said, if authorized, staff would begin a three‑month implementation process that includes workflow setup, data migration and staff training.
Details cited at the meeting: Hoffman said iWORKS maintains off‑site backups and that "within 24 hours of an event, we will be up and running again." He also noted that there is no connection between iWORKS and city drives. Councilmembers encouraged staff to include the contract term and cost in the version submitted for council authorization.
Next steps: Staff will update the resolution to include the contract term and dollar amount and present the agreement for council action at the May 22 council meeting.
