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Transcript

EPL: A New Way Of Doing Business With The City Of West Palm Beach · Inside West Palm Beach

• 0:14
  Welcome to the City Center podcast.
• 0:16
  I'm Jerry Marcelo.
• 0:18
  The city of West Palm Beach is a very busy place.
• 0:21
  There are new businesses,
• 0:22
  new homes and construction of all types going on literally everywhere with everything that's going on,
• 0:28
  it's easy to miss that.
• 0:29
  There's a very complex paper trail for each and every project with applications approvals and permits for nearly every step of the process.
• 0:39
  Any resident or contractor who has worked with the city knows that paperwork is part of the life and to make sure that every I is dotted and every T is crossed,
• 0:49
  but things are about to change.
• 0:51
  The city is launching a new and powerful online system that will ease the burden on residents as well as streamlining the approval process inside City Hall.
• 1:00
  Joining me today is Jonathan merchant license and permit supervisor and Dylan Battles,
• 1:05
  assistant building official for the city of West Palm Beach.
• 1:08
  Gentlemen,
• 1:09
  welcome.
• 1:10
  Hi.
• 1:10
  Thanks for having us.
• 1:11
  Listen.
• 1:11
  The system is called E P L.
• 1:14
  What's that about?
• 1:15
  And what's it do?
• 1:17
  Ok.
• 1:17
  Well,
• 1:17
  that's gonna replace our current system that we have currently.
• 1:21
  We use Community Plus for our reviews and we also use another system called Project Docs to do our plan reviews in.
• 1:29
  So the two systems are separate systems.
• 1:31
  So now E P L is gonna come and tie the two together and make it much more convenient for the customer.
• 1:35
  Yeah,
• 1:35
  also,
• 1:36
  uh you know,
• 1:36
  customers currently use our ego plus one stop shop portal.
• 1:40
  That's where they can look at plan,
• 1:41
  review comments,
• 1:42
  schedule inspections,
• 1:43
  uh pay fees,
• 1:44
  that kind of thing,
• 1:45
  that's also going away,
• 1:46
  gonna be folded into this new system.
• 1:48
  Um uh We have a civic access portal and they can do all those things and,
• 1:52
  and it like Dilan said it all in one place.
• 1:54
  So to understand how we're gonna be making improvements,
• 1:57
  let's talk a little bit about what it was like prior to this.
• 2:00
  What did folks who are going to get permits or bringing in applications?
• 2:05
  What would they bring and how would they get it to you?
• 2:09
  Ok,
• 2:10
  I'll start.
• 2:10
  So,
• 2:11
  uh initially,
• 2:12
  obviously we did paper but um but even before COVID,
• 2:16
  we were going digital.
• 2:17
  So at that time,
• 2:17
  we were taken in digital plans,
• 2:19
  but our,
• 2:20
  our system is,
• 2:20
  is a little antiquated and where you have to drop off plans and we communicate with emails and sometimes we would miss a lot of things such as payments.
• 2:29
  Uh There was a lot of going back and forth.
• 2:31
  So now with this new system,
• 2:32
  everything's streamlined notifications go out and it's gonna help with uh in the old days,
• 2:39
  uh I take it that there was lots of paperwork,
• 2:42
  there were multiple copies of things that had to be prepared by,
• 2:45
  by the the person submitting.
• 2:47
  Yeah,
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  absolutely.
• 2:48
  If it was paper,
• 2:49
  we were doing two sets of plans and those plans would have to go from one plan reviewer to the next.
• 2:54
  So as I mentioned that we,
• 2:55
  we did go digital before COVID and we were doing digital plan review.
• 2:59
  But now the system that we have is gonna help tie everything together.
• 3:03
  So we're gonna be much more efficient and the customers are gonna reap the benefits.
• 3:06
  Got you.
• 3:06
  So when you someone gives it plan,
• 3:08
  it doesn't go to one office,
• 3:10
  it actually bounces around from different people to different places.
• 3:14
  It does.
• 3:15
  Um If it was paper,
• 3:16
  which we no longer do it,
• 3:18
  it wouldn't be concurrent.
• 3:19
  But since we have a system called project,
• 3:21
  do we do a concurrent review?
• 3:23
  And we'll continue to do that in E P L.
• 3:25
  But one of the benefits of E P L is we'll have dashboards.
• 3:28
  So each plan viewer will have their,
• 3:30
  their daily tasks laid right in front of them.
• 3:32
  There'll be no question about what to do now,
• 3:34
  from what I understand E P L folks are at home online.
• 3:38
  So there is what a website that people go to.
• 3:41
  Right.
• 3:42
  That's right.
• 3:42
  So uh it's the civic access portal that I mentioned.
• 3:45
  So it,
• 3:46
  it'll again for everything permanent related.
• 3:49
  Um you know,
• 3:49
  business tax will still stay in our E gov plus portal for the foreseeable future.
• 3:53
  Hopefully,
• 3:53
  you know,
• 3:54
  we can uh fold business tax into E P L and the Civic access portal uh in 2024.
• 3:59
  But for,
• 4:00
  you know,
• 4:00
  on,
• 4:01
  on Monday the 26th when uh June 26th,
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  when we go live,
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  uh people will be able to,
• 4:05
  you know,
• 4:06
  you log into the Civic access portal.
• 4:08
  Uh you'll be able to register,
• 4:09
  you know,
• 4:09
  create a profile,
• 4:10
  that kind of thing and then we can start tying you into maybe even in,
• 4:14
  in the existing permits that you have.
• 4:15
  Uh But yeah,
• 4:16
  from that portal,
• 4:17
  you can do pretty much anything.
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  You can,
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  you can pay fees,
• 4:19
  schedule inspections,
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  uh check your plan,
• 4:21
  review status,
• 4:22
  check your plan,
• 4:23
  review comments,
• 4:24
  pretty much anything and everything and it's all in one,
• 4:26
  right?
• 4:26
  So,
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  uh like Dylan had mentioned to you,
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  we have all these different portals and these different systems for plans and,
• 4:31
  and fees and,
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  and,
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  and review comments and everything like that.
• 4:34
  It's all gonna be in one place now much,
• 4:36
  much simpler for the customer and also simplifies it for us as well.
• 4:39
  Um And,
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  and so because it's more modern,
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  there's more,
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  you know,
• 4:42
  support for it.
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  We're,
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  we're very excited about all of the uh things that,
• 4:45
  that civic access will bring,
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  will,
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  will it cost money to,
• 4:48
  to join and to register.
• 4:50
  No,
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  absolutely not.
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  It's a,
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  it's 100% free and uh you don't even need to make a log in to,
• 4:54
  to search for,
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  you know,
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  public records.
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  Uh If you want to make a public records request to get documents,
• 4:59
  you,
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  you'd still have to do that.
• 5:00
  But in order to,
• 5:01
  you know,
• 5:02
  uh look at some public information,
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  you don't actually need to even log in.
• 5:06
  Oh,
• 5:06
  fantastic.
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  So it,
• 5:08
  it basically makes the process of submitting information and then retrieving information easier is I did,
• 5:16
  I did do I understand correctly that that during the process,
• 5:19
  say I've got a long process,
• 5:20
  I can check in and see the status of how my my projects going.
• 5:24
  Absolutely.
• 5:24
  So uh even when you,
• 5:26
  you know,
• 5:26
  you log in and you go and you,
• 5:27
  and you look at your permit,
• 5:28
  there are a lot of cool features within civic access.
• 5:31
  There,
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  there's a uh you know,
• 5:32
  a circular graph that kind of even shows you the percentage you,
• 5:35
  you're complete,
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  right?
• 5:36
  Uh You know,
• 5:37
  you could be a 15% you know,
• 5:38
  25 50 and then you get towards your final inspections,
• 5:41
  you're looking at 75 80% complete.
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  So you're kind of following it along all the way through.
• 5:46
  It even shows you all the steps,
• 5:47
  even the ones that we do on the back end.
• 5:49
  Um It shows you,
• 5:51
  you know,
• 5:51
  where you're progressing,
• 5:52
  how many steps you've gone through the process,
• 5:54
  how many you have left and all that kind of stuff.
• 5:56
  And there's also another uh section of civic access where it'll even tell you available action.
• 6:00
  So if there's something for you to do as the customer,
• 6:03
  you can easily see what it is and then be able to take care of it right there.
• 6:06
  Fantastic.
• 6:07
  So what Jonathan is talking about our,
• 6:09
  our workflow steps,
• 6:10
  which we've been working on for many,
• 6:13
  many months trying to get those down and there's,
• 6:15
  there's a lot of them,
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  but the customer can see the progress that way.
• 6:18
  Now,
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  one of the questions that often comes into play is that West Palm Beach has been here for,
• 6:22
  for a long time.
• 6:23
  We've got a lot of records.
• 6:25
  Is it still possible to see records that aren't part of the system that happened 10 2030 years ago or more uh to answer that we use a file net system.
• 6:35
  So all those files are ultimately end up in the file net.
• 6:38
  I mean,
• 6:38
  we're gonna continue that practice,
• 6:40
  but from E P L,
• 6:40
  we have an easy way to take them right out of E P L and into file net where the customer can find them.
• 6:46
  And,
• 6:46
  and we also plan to do some file management with the new files so that when they go into file net,
• 6:50
  it'll make sense to them and they can see all their files,
• 6:53
  right?
• 6:53
  And,
• 6:53
  and a lot of that legacy data also that's in our current system that Dylan had mentioned.
• 6:57
  Community plus will be converted into the and carried over into the new E P L system.
• 7:02
  All right.
• 7:02
  Well,
• 7:03
  all right.
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  So we have an opportunity here.
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  We,
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  you know,
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  this is a new system.
• 7:08
  Uh,
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  people are wondering what it does,
• 7:10
  people at home,
• 7:11
  uh,
• 7:11
  contractors as well,
• 7:12
  getting a handle on it.
• 7:14
  If you had the opportunity to,
• 7:15
  to give them a message,
• 7:17
  you have a magic megaphone here to give it to get a message to folks about the system before it goes online.
• 7:21
  What would you tell them?
• 7:23
  Um,
• 7:24
  I tell them,
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  don't,
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  don't be,
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  don't be intimidated,
• 7:27
  right to log in,
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  jump into it,
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  you know,
• 7:29
  poke around,
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  look at stuff if you have questions,
• 7:31
  you,
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  you know,
• 7:31
  you can always call us.
• 7:32
  Our,
• 7:32
  our phone number will still remain 561805 67 100 for the building department.
• 7:37
  Um,
• 7:38
  but I have you play and see what you can do,
• 7:40
  you know.
• 7:41
  Um,
• 7:42
  it's,
• 7:42
  it's pretty dynamic.
• 7:43
  It's,
• 7:43
  it's pretty fantastic.
• 7:45
  Uh,
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  and,
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  and like I said earlier,
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  we're,
• 7:47
  we're really excited about it but it,
• 7:49
  you know,
• 7:49
  we kind of gone over a lot of the things that it does.
• 7:51
  Uh,
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  but it's,
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  it's different unless you just go into it yourself and get into it.
• 7:55
  Look at it.
• 7:56
  Right.
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  I,
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  I agree.
• 7:57
  Jonathan,
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  they're,
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  they're gonna find that there's a lot of unique features in there and I think just diving right in is the way to go diving right in.
• 8:03
  And also the other thing too is that there are some tutorial materials that you guys have prepared.
• 8:08
  Yeah,
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  that's,
• 8:08
  that's right.
• 8:09
  Um So W PB dot org slash E P L,
• 8:13
  right?
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  Uh is the city website and on the city website,
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  we've prepared for you guys a bunch of videos,
• 8:19
  uh how to register or create a profile,
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  you know,
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  how to,
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  how to schedule inspection,
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  how to pay an invoice,
• 8:24
  uh how to apply for a permit or a lien reduction or our,
• 8:27
  our plan.
• 8:28
  Uh And then we also have companion PDF S to go with all of those things,
• 8:32
  right?
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  So besides watching the,
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  the youtube videos,
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  you can also uh read about it.
• 8:36
  We have step by step instructions on how to do certain things.
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  So we're,
• 8:39
  we're,
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  you know,
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  we have all those materials available to help you guys out.
• 8:42
  Uh you know,
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  in case,
• 8:43
  you know,
• 8:43
  you have a question about anything and we also plan to have some staff,
• 8:47
  staff available when we go live.
• 8:48
  So if you need to come in,
• 8:49
  we'll have staff that can help you and,
• 8:51
  and get you started.
• 8:52
  Well,
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  that's terrific.
• 8:53
  Well,
• 8:53
  John Dylan,
• 8:54
  I want to thank you both for your time today.
• 8:56
  You know,
• 8:57
  uh E P L is an amazing service that it looks like it's going to truly change the way a lot of individuals did their business with the city and,
• 9:03
  and certainly make it better.
• 9:05
  The City Center podcast is produced by the City of West Palm Beach.
• 9:09
  We hope you found today's discussions useful.
• 9:11
  And if you did,
• 9:12
  please subscribe.
• 9:13
  If you have any questions or comments,
• 9:15
  please write us at podcast at W PB dot org.
• 9:19
  If you wish to learn more about E P L and what it does visit the city's website at W PB dot org slash E P L.
• 9:28
  This is Jerry Marcelo.
• 9:30
  We'll see you next time.