Walton County planning director presents 90‑day action plan; commissioners press for better customer response

Walton County planning staff asked the Board of County Commissioners on Aug. 26 to give them 90 days to implement a plan of action intended to address recurring customer complaints about application processing, telephone responses and staffing.

Interim Planning Director Steven Schoen told the board the department’s last fully integrated policies-and-procedures manual dated to 2011, with limited updates since 2018. Schoen said staff have identified “gaps” that have grown over time and have drafted a revised policies-and-procedures manual, added process managers, and proposed internal stratification of planner positions to improve retention.

Schoen and County Administrator Brian Kellenberger described several near‑term technology steps. The department is converting more work to the EnerGov permitting system, adding a "planner of the day" point of contact so callers can get status updates, onboarding the SWIFTGov AI review tool for building permits (staff said commercial review will come later), and planning a customer relationship management (CRM) system to consolidate communications and document attachments.…