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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, July 18, 2016 Page 22 Mayor Roe stated that given the timing and apparent lack of interest in public par- ticipation to-date, he would support the motion. Roll Call Ayes: Etten, McGehee and Roe. Nays: Laliberte. Motion carried. Recess Mayor Roe recessed the meeting at approximately 8:44 p.m., and reconvened at approximately 8:52 p.m. 15. Business Items — Presentations/Discussions a. Authorization to Develop a Contract with Accela for a New Permitting, In- spections, Code Enforcement and Licensing System Interim Community Development Director Kari Collins introduced this item, as part of the arganizational priorities included in the City Manager Recommended budget for 2017. Ms. Collins noted staff had spent parts of the last two years re- viewing various software programs for e-permitting solutions and to improve workflow. Ms. Collins deferred to Mr. Koepp for his review of why staff chose this option to recommend and how it would be intended for integration. GIS Technician Joel Koepp As detailed in the RCA, Mr. Koepp reviewed the city's current permitting, inspec- tions, and code enforcement software and various ages of those programs. Mr. Koepp noted the department retained one computer station far historical permit research to access past digital permits. Mr. Koepp noted there were many vendors in this software realm; and reviewed their benefits and limitations. Mr. Koepp displayed the City of Rochester, MN as an example of an Accela software user; the recommended vendor of choice by staff. Mr. Koepp reviewed the potential benefits for the city, residents and con- tractors in being able to search the status of permits through a web portal. Mr. Koepp also noted the benefits for those larger permit and land use applications in- volving multiple departments for review, with the current system providing for no central digitalization of that work flow. Mr. Koepp noted that the city's legacy data could be brought into this one system and no longer require maintenance of those older systems, which had spurred staff as a priority to improve overall efficiencies and address the responsiveness — or lack thereof — frequently experienced with those older systems. Mr. Koepp noted these inefficiencies currently impacted not only Community Development De- partment staff, but also that of the Information Technology Department staff and future viability concerns with that older software with no appreciable updates or improvements available.