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Leawood staff preview new enterprise permitting and licensing portal, propose calendar-year business license renewal
Summary
City staff previewed a new permitting and business licensing portal and proposed changing the business license year from July-June to January-December to simplify migration; staff also proposed consolidating license categories and moving estate-sale licenses administratively to the city clerk.
City staff gave the Leawood Governing Body an update April 7 on a new enterprise permitting and licensing system and asked council to consider an ordinance change to shift the annual business license year from July 1through June 30 to a January 1through December 31 renewal cycle.
Travis Torres, director of Building Code Enforcement, demonstrated the customer portal configuration that groups permit types (for example, "Residential Other") and standardizes expiration windows (e.g., 180 days for minor permits and 365 days for new homes). He said the system is being configured to make it easier for applicants to find the correct permit category and for staff to manage review workflows.
City Administrator Powell explained that if the council approves changing the business license year to a calendar-year cycle, staff would avoid processing two separate renewals during system migration and could instead provide a six-month extension to current licenses while launching the new portal. "Any license that... is set to expire on June 30 would get six months extension" under the proposal; new licenses issued during the interim would be prorated.
Powell said staff also recommends consolidating roughly 57 license types into 27 broader categories, eliminating a stand-alone "home-based business" license (instead tagging licenses as home-based when applicable), and moving the administrative portion of estate-sale licensing into the city clerk's office while retaining codes inspections. The council did not vote on the code change at the meeting; staff said they will return with an ordinance timed to coincide with the portal's expected August or September go-live.
Council members asked about staffing and coverage for permit processing, search and FAQ functionality to help residents determine whether permits are required, and the ability to adjust the system if state law changes. Staff said the system supports future reconfiguration and that permit workflows will include backups and cross-coverage.
