Jaleski urges building department efficiency

Longboat Key Commissioner Gene Jaleski is urging Town Manager Bruce St. Denis to consider technology advancements in the Planning, Zoning and Building Department to make it run more efficiently.

“I think we have reached a point where the community at large, and especially the business community, want and need a more user-friendly and efficient means of conducting business with the town,” Jaleski wrote in an e-mail to St. Denis Saturday, Nov. 21.

Although Jaleski noted the building department’s staff is “professional and friendly,” he believes the department has “too many paper forms, inefficient communications and a lack of a clearly defined processes in many areas of our permitting and code compliance requirements.”

By making the department run more efficiently, Jaleski believes it will make things easier for the island’s business community and current and future homeowners.

Jaleski said he would like to see the following:

• A reduction of the number of required trips to Town Hall to complete a building permit by instituting an online application system.

• Clearly defined permitting requirements and a list of all required forms and applications that are available online.

• Online communications between town staff and applicants, including e-mail notifications and online helpdesk facilities, which Jaleski said will reduce trips to Town Hall and improve turn-around times.

Wrote Jaleski: “The goal should be to improve and simplify the operations of the all town departments while assisting both business and homeowners with clear concise roadmaps of what is required.”

Jaleski included a link for St. Denis from a company called PermitSoft Inc., a company that specializes in online management for municipal permitting and code enforcement.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].