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Washington County to expand online permitting, add direct payment and move Accela to cloud
Summary
Washington County officials announced an expanded online permitting portal with in-portal payment, faster processing goals, and a planned migration of Accela to the cloud; staff seek beta testers and expect improved inspection and permit setup times.
Washington County officials said the county will expand its online permitting portal so applicants can submit and pay for permits directly and staff will migrate the permitting software Accela to the cloud.
Planning and Development Services Building Official Derek Moon said the portal currently accepts mechanical, electrical, plumbing, prescriptive solar and some fire sprinkler affidavits and that county staff plan to roll building permit functionality into the portal in September. “You'll be able to fill out your building permit application and pay for it right there in the portal,” Moon said.
County staff said the online workflow is intended to reduce manual data entry that previously required permit technicians to rekey emailed applications into the county system. Moon reported the department is averaging about 200 inspections a day and that building project setups currently take about three days while MEP project setups take about two days; staff expect those measures to improve as more work shifts to the portal.
Moon said ProjectDocs has already been moved to the cloud and that Accela will follow in September. He asked for volunteers to help beta test the expanded portal and said staff will recruit testers when they roll out the building-permit functionality.
Staff described other near-term changes in Building Services: hiring additional permit technicians, a pilot drone program to support roof inspections where inspectors cannot safely access roofs, and moving records and workflows into cloud-hosted systems. County staff said they are interviewing candidates for another permit-tech position and that the earlier fee increases approved last year helped fund staffing increases that are bringing service levels closer to targets.
The county will solicit volunteers to test the portal and provide contact information for staff at the back of the room. The department also encouraged attendees to stop by the back table for printed graphics and current application forms and noted the next development forum is scheduled for Oct. 9.
