Permitting ‘crisis’ criticized
Mayor tells manager to get problems fixed
Cape Coral Mayor John Gunter believes problems with the city’s new permitting system are so severe they pose an existential threat to the city.
And he made it clear to City Manager Rob Hernandez in no uncertain terms that if he doesn’t find a solution to the problems soon, he will lose confidence in Hernandez’s ability to manage the city.
It’s that real, and the Cape Coral City Council on Wednesday took a step by unanimously passing a measure that would allow for the hiring of more people to handle permitting.
The city has experienced issues since it transitioned to its EnerGov system five months ago.
The city shut the system down for nine days around Easter because it had gotten so far behind on issuing permits it needed to reduce the backlog before accepting any new permits online or in person.
Things haven’t gotten much better since then, officials said.
The city had received 23,752 applications and issued 19,052 permits as of Wednesday.That means 4,700 permits have not been issued.
Hernandez said he has gotten different answers regarding the actual backlog. Matt Granbow, city special projects coordinator, told him there were 7,197 permits in the queue.
Part of the issue is the city is going through record growth, which means it is processing more permits.
The city’s IT department, meanwhile, has done all it can to try to keep up, but the new system continues to be problematic for city staff and residents and contractors trying to use it, officials said.
To get a better handle on system issues and find possible solutions, the city will send a team to Des Moines next week.
The city also expects its third-party consultant, Plante Moran, to present an assessment and optimization plan soon and is doing workshops and software updates.
More needs to be done — and quickly, too, Gunter said.
Lee County, which has handled nearly as many permits as Cape Coral, has more employees processing them and gets them out much faster than Cape Coral, he said adding he has sought permits from both recently.
“We have a lack of service which is having a financial impact on our residents and our businesses. This is a crisis for our city and we need to talk about this every day,” Gunter said. “We started this in February and we’re no better today than when we started.”
Contractors are facing potential employee layoffs because permits are coming in at such a crawl, he said, adding the city hasn’t given staff the tools they need to address the permitting issues.
Gunter then addressed Hernandez, saying he needs to come up with short-term to go with the long-term solutions he laid out.
“Your success is our success, and your failures are our failure. I want you to be the best city manager we ever had. But we have to look hard at this issue,” Gunter said. “If we continue down this path, and I hope this never happens, I will lose the confidence and support of you as a city manager.”
One solution suggested was to hire more people, though the hiring process takes time.
Councilmember Tom Hayden thought they should identify some people on staff who could help now.
“We’re in a perfect storm right now. Put something in motion right now because we are falling behind again,” Hayden said.
Councilmember Dan Sheppard said the city needs to hire people immediately and allow them to concentrate on a few tasks so as to do them really well instead of being spread across duties.
Other suggestions included hiring people from the private sector or getting help from the county or other municipalities.
Council agreed that more personnel are needed and voted unanimously to allow Hernandez to start looking for those people.
Bill Johnson Jr., executive director of the CCCIA, said he agrees that the city is in a permitting crisis and that much more needs to be done.
“The city is trying to address things in the long term. In the short term, we’re nowhere near where we need to be. The industry is hurting from the time it’s taking to get permits out,” Johnson said. “We need short-term fixes to get through the backlog and keep our heads above water.”
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com