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Permitting services report steady metrics, seeks IT upgrades and staffing to sustain improvements
Summary
The Department of Permitting Services told the committee it has improved key review metrics, is moving a permitting system to the cloud, and proposed targeted staffing and technology investments as it uses fund balance to support upgrades and pilot technical assistance.
The Department of Permitting Services (DPS) updated the Economic Development Committee on Jan. 27 on performance metrics, technology migration and proposals to use a portion of the department’s fund balance to support targeted investments.
Director Sabakan opened the presentation by emphasizing that improving review timeliness and inspections is central to economic development. DPS said it is migrating its plan review system to the cloud and conducting a broader permitting‑system replacement; staff told the committee those technology upgrades are intended to consolidate and replace legacy systems that have slowed electronic plan intake and review during outages.
Why it matters: permit review and inspection timeliness affects project schedules for businesses and homeowners. Committee members pressed DPS about periods when electronic plan review was unavailable during system upgrades and asked how the department will use its fund balance to eliminate any remaining review delays.
Budgetary and staffing proposals: DPS said current FY25 fund‑balance estimates are approximately $4,080,000 and listed a set of enhancement requests in its FY26 proposal, including three personnel additions and technology spending. The personnel requests described in the packet were an assistant public information/outreach position to supplement one existing PIO, an additional electrical plan reviewer, and a commercial program manager; the packet also listed technology spending lines, described in the presentation variously as a $3.5 million IT upgrade and separately a $350,000 line for systems and equipment. DPS said it is still finalizing these budget numbers with OMB and will provide updated figures as part of the county executive review process.
Performance and customer service: DPS provided a performance dashboard that showed generally steady permit issuances, inspection counts and resubmission turnaround, and said it is targeting higher screening and initial review rates in commercial plan review. The department reported particular emphasis on restaurant permitting, solar permit streamlining (an “E Solar” initiative), translation of customer guides into Spanish, GIS public maps and a new podcast series to educate applicants. DPS said some review time metrics were affected by system outages during upgrades and expects timeliness to improve once cloud migration and system upgrades are complete.
Third‑party and backlog questions: Councilmembers repeatedly asked whether DPS should use third‑party reviewers to accelerate reviews; DPS said peer review options exist and noted tradeoffs — union considerations, quality control and vendor management — while acknowledging third‑party reviews are a tool some jurisdictions use. DPS said it does not consider the department in “backlog status” broadly but acknowledged some disciplines (electrical and parts of commercial review) need additional capacity and that hiring and targeted process management are part of the FY26 plan.
Bill 7‑24 and regulatory workload: Committee members asked about resource needs to implement Bill 7‑24 (the new local ordinance referenced in packet materials) and DPS said it will review the regulation text once it clears the county legal process and report back on staffing and implementation needs.
Next steps: DPS will finalize FY26 enhancement requests with OMB, provide updated fund‑balance estimates and timeline for the permitting system replacement, and return to the committee with progress updates on both technology migration and any targeted staffing hires.
