Monroe streamlines its permit process

Published 8:54 pm Monday, December 27, 2010

MONROE — Starting in January, there will be only one place you need to go to get a permit for home additions, new buildings or rezoning your property.

To increase efficiency and avoid having to reissue permits because of errors, the city soon will issue them under one department.

The Operations Department will handle all permits and other paperwork for building, engineering and zoning.

In a related change, the city will have the Finance Department report to Community Development, while the Operations Department will oversee public works and emergency development, director Brad Feilberg said.

“It will give us more time to do other functions,” City Administrator Gene Brazel said of the streamlining.

Brazel will oversee the Community Development department.

Previously, permits were divided between Operations and Community Development.

All permits can be obtained at City Hall, 806 W. Main St.

The reshuffling means some employees will be moved from one department to another.

There will be seven employees moving from Operations to Finance, and five will switch from Community Development to Operations.

The city has also put on its website all the forms and instructions for permits. The ultimate goal is to avoid errors during the permitting process. It could save the city money: Fewer errors mean fewer work hours on a permit.

“We want to give permits as fast as possible with less errors,” Feilberg said.

The city is reinstating a centralized approach that ended when Carol Grey retired as finance director in December 2009. The city is also following a recommendation by a private consulting firm in a report last spring.

The city will also change software in June so it can follow finances and permit requests with one database instead of four, Feilberg said.

According to city figures, engineering and building permit applications decreased in 2008 and 2009, but this year is ending with better figures than last year. As of Monday, there had been 237 engineering permits issued in 2010 — 34 more than last year.

Meanwhile, there have been 533 building permits issued as of Oct. 31. There were four more in 2009, but the total valuation of all building permits is about $12 million. The total valuation in 2009 was only about $8 million.

Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.