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Commission hears plan for five-year Exela permitting system; staff cites $527,001 total and faster rollout using Polk County templates
Summary
City staff proposed a five-year contract implementing Exela (with Selectron and Bern) as a cloud-based permitting and licensing platform for the building division, estimating a total five-year cost of $527,001 and an implementation window of roughly 4–9 months using Polk County templates.
City staff presented a new-business item proposing a five-year agreement with Exela and related vendors (Selectron and Bern) to provide a cloud-based permitting and licensing platform for the building division.
Staff said the package includes online permit submittals, plan review workflow, inspection scheduling and a customer-facing communications component (including text-message notifications). The proposal would use Polk County’s preconfigured templates to shorten implementation time and lower setup costs; staff said using county templates reduces implementation costs with Accela (the alternative) from an estimated $200,000–$300,000 down to about $80,000.
Staff gave a total five-year price of $527,001 for the combined Exela/Selectron/Bern services. Funding for the contract is available in the building-division fund and must be spent from building-fee revenue. Staff estimated implementation would take between four and nine months, with a likely window of about six months because of the county templates.
The item was presented in new business; the transcript excerpt does not record a final vote or formal approval during this meeting.
Ending: Staff said the platform would improve customer communication and workload management in the building division and that staff will continue to explore similar solutions for other city services.
