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Council divides over a new procurement for digital permitting after building department reports 100+ digital plan submittals
Summary
Building Director Danny Angel told council the department has launched e‑permitting and processed 100+ digital plan submittals during a soft launch. A proposal to immediately start a separate procurement to test alternate digital permitting systems failed 4–3, after council members debated costs, hardware needs and implementation times.
Director Danny Angel told the council the building department had implemented a digital permitting platform and "successfully process[ed] more than 100 digital permit applications and plan reviews through our electronic permitting system" during a soft launch, work he said was years in the making.
Councilmember Eric Sanchez pushed for a targeted procurement: a narrowly framed scope to solicit competing digital plan‑review vendors and hardware packages so the town could compare alternatives without replacing the enterprise system. Sanchez argued the council requested a separate procurement in February to "begin the procurement process for the technology upgrades needed to implement the ability for architectural plans to be submitted digitally," and said a competitive process could reveal cheaper or more user‑friendly options.
Town management and the director cautioned the council that replacing or adding enterprise systems is labor intensive and can take 9–18 months, and that many regional municipalities use the same vendors. The motion to immediately produce a procurement and scope and begin a formal RFP failed on a recorded vote (the motion did not carry). Staff agreed to continue refining the project scope and return with recommendations.
What’s next: Staff will continue implementation of current e‑permitting operations and provide an RFP/scoping recommendation back to council for consideration; councilmembers asked for a clearer breakdown of hardware needs, costs and comparative vendors before committing to a formal replacement procurement.
