Unfinished Business at San Mateo County Planning and Building Division Report Access to County Employee Directory Information
Findings:
Staff is in general agreement with the Grand Jury’s findings.
Recommendations:
The Board of Supervisors should direct the newly created Planning and Building department to implement each of the following recommendations of the 2004-2005 Grand Jury previously accepted by the Board:
1. Create an express line in the Planning and Building lobby for simple permits.
Response: Concur. The Planning and Building Department will create an express line so that representatives from various customer groups such as architects, contractors, and homeowners can help define which projects should be considered “express.” Customers will be included in the discussion and implementation of an express line to address and respond to actual customer need and the concern that some customers may be helped more quickly than others. Defining express projects should be carefully considered so that a customer does not have a negative experience when the “express project” customer receives service before the “non-express project” customer—when the “non-express project” customer came to the counter first. The express line is scheduled to be implemented by the end of June 2007.
2. Raise awareness of fax-in and mail-in options as well as the on-line status through the website, brochures, and signage.
Response: Concur. Signs have been posted in the Planning and Building lobby about the fax and mail-in option for applicable permits. The Department will update its website and brochures by June 2007 so that fax and mail-in options for applicable permits are emphasized. To meet this deadline, stickers will be added to pertinent brochures emphasizing the fax and mail-in options. As brochures are updated and reprinted, the stickers will be replaced with text integrated into the description of the permit process.
3. Improve accessibility to the website by creating better links from the County’s homepage. These links should reflect the Planning and Building Department function in the planning and permit process.
Response: Concur. The County of San Mateo homepage has recently been updated as part of the Countywide reorganization and links to the Planning and Building Department have been improved. The Department is now directly accessed from the County homepage by its department name rather than through the name of a larger Agency. The link to the Planning and Building Department directly links to the “Permit Plan” tracking system and permitting processes.
The Department’s “Permit Plan” tracking system includes information fields for in-house and third party agencies, such as special districts, that are responsible for reviewing and commenting on permit applications. Anyone can access this information on-line through the application number, site address, or assessor’s parcel number.
Department staff is responsible for filling in all project status fields. The Department will coordinate with Accela, the service provider for “Permit Plan,” to upgrade the tracking system so that comments and documents received from third party agencies can be directly attached to the tracking system and applicants and interested parties thereby have access to more complete information.
The Department also understands that it can improve its customer service by facilitating communication between applicants and third party agencies. To achieve this goal, the Department has hired a Permit Coordinator who is responsible for serving as liaison between an applicant and a third party agency. The Permit Coordinator informs third party agencies of timelines for comments and will assist in communicating the comments received from third party agencies to applicants. Although this is not an on-line solution, it does provide a County liaison between applicants and agencies so that communication during the permit process is enhanced.
4. Design and implement an in-depth survey to solicit recommendations from architects, contractors and homeowners for improving the permit process.
Response: Concur. The Department will convene a focus group of selected customer representatives—architects, contractors and homeowners—to design and implement an in-depth survey that will be used to solicit specific recommendations for improving the permit process. This survey will include solicitation on how to design and implement an “Express Line” in the lobby as well as other ways to streamline the permit process. The Department will develop a workplan and budget, based on the focus group recommendations, by the end of June 2007.
| 