SmartGov will allows more government paperwork online

Soon companies will be able to file for permits with the city of Maricopa and track their progress online.

During his Maricopa 101 presentation at City Hall in June, Robert Mathias, development manager in the Development Services Department, demonstrated what business owners and members of the public can do with the new SmartGov software being used by the city.

That includes finding out when buildings were last inspected and what permits have been filed for areas under construction.

Maricopa 101 is a series of training sessions for individuals, companies and organizations to learn the city’s business assistance resources.

Prospective businesses can cut their development time by months by using this tool, Mathias said.

“You can apply for a permit, pay for your permit, you can check when your inspections are and you can pay for your inspections,” Mathias said. “It’s going to be a completely transparent program for our public.”

The move to an online server for permitting will save the city thousands of dollars in paper each month, he said, and contribute to the city’s green initiative. With the data stored in the “cloud,” the city will also save money on IT hardware, software and service.

“Right now, this program is only in the building department,” Mathias said. “We hope to expand it to other departments and become completely paper-free.”

The online capability will also be attractive to companies looking to develop in Maricopa. Processes that used to take months will now only take weeks and save those companies thousands of dollars, he said.

“Super Wal-Mart will send 10 people from all over the country to meet with the city and go over all of the plans,” Mathias said. “They spend $30,000 to $40,000 just sending these people into a jurisdiction. Well, when we did it (in Bend, Oregon), Super Wal-Mart came in and they didn’t send one person. We did it all online with video chat and online permit filing. They received their permits and paid for everything without stepping one foot in the city.”

Mathias gave another example of Olive Garden opening three months ahead of schedule due to the speed and efficiency of filing online.