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Goodhue County land management director outlines online permitting rollout, budget and fee changes
Summary
Megan Smith, Goodhue County land management director, told the county board the building division has four staff, plans to launch an online permit platform mid-2026 under a $15,600 contract, and raised the residential plan-review fee from 45% to 65% amid debate about whether the county should continue in-house inspections or contract out to save levy dollars.
Megan Smith, the county's land management director, briefed the Goodhue County Board at a Committee of the Whole meeting on the building division's staffing, finances and a newly awarded online permitting contract.
Smith said the division comprises four positions (building official, building inspector, building technician supervisor and building technician), a shared administrative assistant, three fleet vehicles and that county staff issued just over 800 permits in 2025 with about $37 million in valuation. "For those of you that know me, my name is Megan Smith. I'm the land management director here for Goodhue County," she said at the start of the presentation.
The county budgeted $18,000 to solicit online-permitting proposals and signed a contract with a vendor identified in the presentation as Gov; Smith said the implementation contract totaled $15,600 and includes GIS integration so users can enter an address, retrieve a parcel and have the parcel data linked automatically to the permit record. Smith said staff hope the new platform will go live in mid-2026 and that it will consolidate applications for building, well, septic,…
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