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Helena rolls out online special-events permitting and previews M Files public records system
Summary
City staff demonstrated a new Tyler EPL/Civic Access special-events permit portal with draft/save features, public search and staff workflows, and showcased M Files, a document-management system intended to centralize public records, automate retention and link strategic-plan actions to public documents.
Helena City staff used the Dec. 18 administrative meeting to demonstrate new digital tools intended to simplify permitting and public access to records.
Director of Transportation Systems (presenter) walked commissioners through a new special-events application built on Tyler’s EPL Civic Access platform. The portal requires a Civic Access account, allows applicants to save drafts, add mapped locations and list contacts (owner, authorized representative, property owner, tenant). The system flags common event variables — whether alcohol is served, expected crowd size, need for street closures — and provides contact numbers for the Police Department and other divisions. Applicants can track permit status through a dashboard; attachments are uploaded on final submission and the dashboard shows pending and approved permits in a public search view.
"That link exists on the finance web page," staff said when describing where filtered document views such as CAFR and minutes will live; staff distinguished the Civic Access portal for transactional permits from M Files, the city’s document-management system.
Curtis, Records Systems Administrator, demonstrated M Files later in the meeting. He described it as a searchable network of documents that supports automated workflows for contracts and agreement routing, e-signature integration and automated retention to meet Secretary of State guidelines. Staff said the system will support a public vault with pre-filtered views for items such as audited financials, meeting minutes and permits and will link strategic-plan actions to source documents. Commissioners praised the multi-year effort and asked about redundancies; staff said critical permanent records are duplicated on static servers and that more content will be added to the system over time.
No formal policy change or fee schedule was adopted at the meeting; staff said they will continue building out processes and will provide additional links and context for public navigation.
