From the August Issue of Dimensions

Tacoma’s Permitting Technical Advisory Group (TAG) was formed in 2008 to help develop a high performance permitting process within the City’s of Tacoma’s Building and Land Use Service. While industry members once referred to Tacoma as "the gold standard," service levels have slipped in recent years for a number of reasons. The Task Force is currently focused on improving internal organization and improving customer service. The TAG includes representatives from the design, development and construction community, including MBA.

The Demarche Consulting Group, hired by the City of Tacoma, issued a Strategic Assessment and Plan for the Building and Land Use Permitting Department in May 2009. The report describes the current condition of the permitting processes, near-term and mid-term action recommendations, and development of a longer-term sustainability plan for continuous improvement.

The report begins with an analysis of the current organizational structure and operation of the permitting activities of the City. General functions include the creation and modification of development related code, administration of that code through permitting and inspection, and regulation enforcement. Issues with the current structure from the stakeholder’s perspective are that permitting services have radically deteriorated in recent years. From both management and customer perspectives, turnover has been very high, affecting staff knowledge and work flow. And from an organizational perspective, code authorities and process design are poorly structured and have not kept pace with current or long range planning.

The near-term and mid-term recommendations are able to be implemented immediately and will lead to system-wide improvements which are needed to ensure sustainable performance efforts. The recommendations propose an operational and organizational structure change that will occur by use of significant changes in the permit processes, enhancement of technologies, and the management of performance and skills development.

The report recommends the immediate implementation of a redefined permit process. An enhanced triage will provide subject matter experts (SME’s) for intake of all development permit applications at the time of application, including a formal risk assessment and team-based review where appropriate. The new process also implements a project manager or a single point of contact for projects where it is needed. This enables better project tracking, more consistent decision making, and routine feedback for code implementation.

The goal of the technology plan is to implement vital tools so an interoperable system is achieved and the processes structured during the final sustainability phase have a solid technology backbone. Technology enhancements will improve customer service and transparency by allowing the option of electronic uploads of documents via a SharePoint portal, the option for customers to check the status of a permit, leave feedback, and the automating of returning revised documents to the reviewer.

Throughout the near-term and mid-term phases it is critical that the city communicate its commitment to invest in people and their leadership skills. Individuals and teams will be more able to accept change through performance management and skills training, which will assure that staff stay current with regulatory changes, and technology expertise. This will in turn improve the decision making skills during review and invest in effective customer service.

The goal of the Strategic Assessment Plan is to create a development related permitting process that is seamless and responsive to customers, rather than one that forces customers to navigate City processes in order to get results. The final section of the Strategic Assessment Plan describes a sustainable plan to assure the realignment of authorities, level of review, project management approaches, and overall changes in customer service are sustainable in structure. Continuous improvements will depend on evaluation findings, course correction, structural and organizational changes, code updates, and process adjustments.

If you work in the City of Tacoma and experience its new permitting processes in the near future, please share any feedback you have directly with city staff or with me at 272-2112 ext. 106 or rdoyle@mbapierce.com in order to help complete the process of improving Tacoma’s levels of service.