Clark County will soon be bringing in a fresh set of eyes to take a look at how it can improve its permitting process.
At its Tuesday morning meeting, the county council unanimously voted to allow the Clark County Department of Community Development to move forward with plans to hire a consultant to evaluate the efficiency of its Permit Center, which approves permits for residential and commercial construction in unincorporated parts of the county.
Speaking during the meeting, Community Development Director Marty Snell said that his department estimates that the study will cost up to $100,000. He also said that his department has received five proposals from consulting companies and intends to finalize the contract with one of them by October.
Snell said that the consulting company selected for the project will look at how the county responds to regulations from the state, possible “bottlenecks” and service capacity at the Permit Center, as well as technological improvements that could be made to improve the process. The consultant will also review how the center interacts with related programs and will get feedback from county employees and customers he said.
“A big part of what we hope to gain out of this, from the consultant, is to identify additional ways we can leverage technology to be more efficient to reduce those review times, which is where I personally believe that a lot of time is elapsing on the contractors and their representative consultants,” said Bob Bergquist, Community Development administrative services and finance manager.
He also said the consultant will consider if staff in the Permit Center feel empowered to answer questions immediately over the phone instead of waiting to ask supervisors, which he said can take days.
For months, councilors and staff have alluded to inefficiencies at the county’s permitting process. During the meeting, Councilor Eileen Quiring said that “by far and away” the most complaints she receives concern permitting.
“I’m hoping that this is a really holistic view that will really change what’s happening down there because frankly a lot of people who come to the Permit Center are a little bit afraid to really talk about this,” she said.
Councilor Julie Olson said that she hoped that the study could end up saving applicants and the business community millions of dollars in time and money.
Snell said that the last time the Permit Center’s efficiency was evaluated was in 2006. Since then, he noted that there have been changes in its management, as well as to stormwater regulatory structures and the building code.
The county has also recovered from the Great Recession, Snell noted.
“So this is very much a timely opportunity,” he said.
