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Glynn County building officials tout all-electronic permitting, outline plan to close 7,000 legacy permits
Summary
Building department officials told Glynn County commissioners they have moved permitting to an all-electronic OpenGov portal and are working to close roughly 7,000 legacy permits; condemnation and code-enforcement staff reported steady case closures but said owner-location and court timelines remain constraints.
Glynn County building officials told the Board of Commissioners they have completed a migration to an electronic permitting portal and are pursuing a manual campaign to close a backlog of legacy permits while enforcing demolition and condemnation actions.
Dave Carver, the county’s building official and director of permitting, said the permitting system conversion to OpenGov has eliminated paper submissions. “We're 100% across the board. All applicants, all submittals are all electronic now,” Carver said, adding the change should streamline reviews and reduce customer calls.
Carver described one lingering workload item: old permits created under prior systems dating back to 2007 that were not finalized. He said the county closed records from 2007–2020 and achieved 24% progress on older records so far, but that roughly 7,000 permits still require individual review and closure. Carver said the conversion gave old records a new timestamp when they moved into OpenGov and that staff must inspect each file to avoid incorrectly closing active permits.
Kathleen Light, who oversees condemnations, gave the commission concrete caseload figures. She reported 66 new condemnation-related cases in 2024 (10 unfounded) and said for the current reporting window there were 43 new cases with 10 unfounded and 33 resolved by permit or demolition. Light described frequent challenges locating property owners — in one recent case an owner was in federal prison — and outlined the county’s steps from inspection to citation and court action when property owners do not comply.
Carver and staff also outlined an inspection and technology push to improve field transparency: inspectors will pursue higher certification levels and the department is working with OpenGov on QR-code permit cards that allow contractors and residents to verify an active permit and inspection history on site. Carver said the integration will take time but should reduce afternoon calls and improve public access to inspection results.
The board asked staff to continue reporting on progress toward closing the legacy permit backlog and on roll-out milestones for inspection documentation and QR-code access. Commissioners emphasized caution in closing legacy files and told staff to document closures and rationale so the county can account for the work in the year-end strategic-plan write-up.
The commission did not take any formal votes on permitting or condemnations during the session; staff were directed to continue implementing the conversion and backlog-closure process and to return with progress updates.
