Pottawatomie County, KS, by the Numbers
25,790
Residents
158
Public Records Requests per Month
51
JustFOIA Users Across 59 Departments
$1,120
Estimated Monthly Revenue from Lien Requests
Contents
Stephan Metzger is County Planner at Pottawatomie County in northeast Kansas. And he was tired of cumbersome paper building permit applications.
Pottawatomie is a growing county of around 26,000 residents, with an expanding marketing of new housing and business development. With that growth came both new opportunities and new challenges for the planning department.
Read how Stephan learned to solve those challenges with MCCi Community Development.
Challenge: The Pottawatomie Planning Paperwork Parade
For a long time, the most efficient way for Stephan to process building permit applications was to wait until he had a stack of 10-12. Then he’d work through them all at once.
That’s because he had to parade documents around to individual offices or even send them through the mail. It required coordinating with multiple jurisdictions through emails and phone calls. It was easier to just do this once every few weeks instead of daily.
The problem? That could leave contractors and their customers in the lurch for weeks.
But the County’s population kept growing. And this process became more than just an annoyance. It was slowing down vital community development.
Then, the problem intensified: The City of Manhattan, KS (a part of which is within the Pottawatomie County borders) increased their building inspections requirements. To meet the new requirements, Pottawatomie needed to subcontract with City of Manhattan inspectors.
The result? A mound of additional paperwork shared between the two entities.
Solution: Customized Configuration for Complex Coordination
It was clear that the paper-based processes just weren’t sustainable any longer.
So Stephan began to look for a permitting solution.
And at the same time, a group of government technology experts in the City of Manhattan had just finished developing the newest, most flexible software of its kind.
MCCi Community Development could be configured to handle the unique processes that the partnership with the City of Manhattan created.
“With other software companies [we looked at], you have to fit within their mold,” said Stephan. “MCCi is so flexible and responds to our innovations, creating exactly what we need. I’ve never heard, ‘That can’t be done’ from anybody at MCCi.”
And the longer the County worked with MCCi, the more apparent it became that they made the right choice.
“I’ve worked with a lot of companies who give you the hard sell, and when the contract gets signed, you’re just a number to them,” Stephan said. “The sale was just the primer. Once the contract was signed, then we really got to see how dedicated they are to our success. You’re getting a great price, you’re getting great service, and you’re getting a company that’s got your back.”
Benefits: 80% Faster Permitting
Pottawatomie County and its residents have seen so many benefits with MCCi Community Development.
Time Saved
No more waiting for several applications to pile up. Stephan can start working on permits as soon as an application is submitted.
Stephan and his department have sliced off 80% of the processing time for permits.
“I can have it completed, in most cases, within a day,” Stephan said. “It’s tough to quantify just how much time we’ve saved, but without MCCi, we probably would have had to hire additional staff to handle everything.”
Seamless Collaboration
“The number one feature that has changed our world here is that seamless online capability and coordination with multiple departments and multiple jurisdictions,” Stephan said. “With MCCi Community Development, all departments get what they need as soon as I hit ‘enter’ on my keyboard. That online capability has been amazing.”
Resident and Contractor Satisfaction
Of course, contractors are happy to get permits faster. But they also benefit from the public portal. It lets them track the progress of all their projects in one place. Stephan explained that it’s far simpler than keeping their emails organized for the 25-30 houses that they might be building at a given time.
“Contractors can get ahold of us either through the portal or by giving us a call. It makes communication with the contractors—who are not always the most communicative bunch—that much more seamless, that much easier for the public, which is who we’re trying to serve,” Stephan said.
Find Out How Much Easier Community Development Can Be!
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