Palm Desert staff recommends bringing business licensing in-house, estimates $100,000 implementation cost and Jan. 1, 2026 target go‑live

Richard Canoni, director of Development Services, briefed the City Council on the department’s work plan and proposed changes to business licensing administration. Canoni said Palm Desert contracted HDL to handle business licensing during the pandemic, but continuing vendor problems and software limitations have generated complaints from businesses and inconsistent results in compliance enforcement.

Canoni said the vendor’s software appeared to be about 25 years old and that the vendor’s “service model is just insufficient for our needs and what our residents and businesses are accustomed to.” He described recurring problems with software access, long response times to portal requests, inconsistent billing during a recently launched compliance program, incorrect assessments and enforcement actions taken without adequate coordination with city staff.

Staff evaluated options, reviewed vendors from the city’s 2021 procurement list and demoed the Clarity land-management suite. Canoni recommended bringing business-licensing functions in-house using the Clarity business-licensing module already purchased as part of the…