LTC 280-2011 Quarterly Status Report l l BE
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OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC # ; 280 - LETTER TO MMFS l bN
TO: Mayor Matti Herrera Bower and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager
DATE: November 7, 2011
SUBJECT: QUARTERLY STATUS REPORT ..OF THE CITY - OF -MIAMI BEACH BUILDING'
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS RECOMMENDATIONS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM
WATSON RICE STUDY AS REQUESTED BY THE FINANCE AND CITYWIDE
;PROJECTS COMMITTEE
On August 13,. 2008, the City entered into a contractual agreement with TCBA Watson
Rice to conduct a Building. Department Organizational and Operational Review. The
consultants presented their fin_ al report 1 and recommendations . to the Finance and
Citywide Projects,. Committee on May 5, 2009,
The Finance and Citywide Projects Committee accepted the consultant
recommendations and asked the Administration, to provide a written quarterly update in
the form of a Letter- to Commission, (LTC) and an annual presentation to the Finance and
Citywide Projects Committee.
Attached Js the quarterly report' outlining the progress made to date on all of the
initiatives recommended by the consultant. For ease of reading, we have underlined the
changes made under each of the items since the last report. ;
Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions.
Attachment
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F : \BUIL \$ALL \Kristin\Administrative Services \Watson, Rice \LTC for 102011 Status Report.doc
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CITY OF MIAMI BEACH BUILDING DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
RECOMMENDATIONS AND OBSERVATIONS
FROM WATSON RICE STUDY
a STATUS REPORT AS OF OCTOBER 2011
The July 20111 Status Report reported several recommendations with .a status of "Implemented"
or "Implemented and Ongoing ". To simplify these quarterly reports, those items will no Longer
'be reported again unless there is a change in status in any of those items.
The following recommendations have status updates or are still underway:
16. Consider outsourcing the Permit.Counter and Records Management Service areas.
A) Permit Counter: -
Status: On hold - Reviewj completed, subject to Union Collective Bargaining
Agreement, September 2012
The recommendation to evaluate outsourcing of the permit counter was adopted in the FY
09/10 budget. The .department outlined the scope of services for,the .privatization request for
proposal as part of the FY 10/11 budget process. However, pursuant to negotiations
between the City and the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the union that
represents the Permit Clerk classifications, ,no employees were to be laid off for the FY
10/11 budget year. - The City has shelved the idea of outsourcing the permit counter at this _
time. However, the department continues to evaluate the productivity and cost.effectiveness
of the permit counter as it is currently configured.
B) Records Management Service:
Status: Implemented
The Department has moved expeditiously to digitize most of the City's Building records thus
reducing departmental personnel to a minimum level, and thereby pre - empting the need to
privatize the service,
20. Appoint an individual to coordinate the efforts of the build ng /development process
departments.
Status: Implemented
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In December; 2008, the Building Director was appointed to chair the Building Task Force's _
Interdepartmental. Team. The. Building Director facilitates communication and guides the
process improvement initiatives among the Building Task Force team members. In addition, the
Building Director coordinates responses and directs staff and resources to facilitate building
development, projects. During the past few months, while the Building Director position has
been vacant r this responsibility has been assumed by the Building Official and the Assistant
Building Director with oversight from the Assistant City Manager to whom the Building
- Department reports. With the appointment of the new Building Director, this will be transitioned
back to the Building Director beginning in October 2011
2 . Separate the duties of fee assessment and receipt of fee payments.
Status In progress
The Building. Department has allocated one position to the Finance Department, to handle these
responsibilities and,work is on -going to document,all the payment points and quantities /levels of
-work.
Finance has filled this position. The staff person has been trained on the EDEN financial
system, and will be trained in the Building Department cashiering process. We expect that the
transfer of responsibilities will be completed by the end of 2011
A. Develop and implement a simplified permit fee structure and calculation
methodology.
Status: Implemented
The City selected, Maximus Consulting Services 'in February 2009 to conduct a fee study. The
study analyzed the City's direct and indirect costs, and developed a fee structure based on the
level.of effort dedicated to each permit.
The first reading of the Ordinance was unanimously approved on December 9, 2009 and the
second reading was unanimously approved on January 13, 2010. The Fee Ordinance was
successfully implemented on February 1, 2010.
-Due to issues raised regarding the new fee schedule in the last several months, the item was
discussed at: the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee (Committee), where the
Administration was directed to bring the item before the full Commission. An ordinance revising
- the fee. schedule had its first reading at the July 13, 2011 City Commission Meeting, and was
adopted at its second reading at the September .14, 2011 City Commission Meeting. All
recommended changes to fees were for reductions. In addition, a key provision was added to
the ordinance whereby any permit fee (including all City department permit fees, but not
including 'any, outside agency fees � or surcharges) calculated at time . of permit application
submittal is greater than ten. percent (10 %) of the value of construction as declared on the
permit applic the permit fee will be reevaluated by the Building Official or designee. Any
refunds due to the customer will be issued. at the end of project construction.
The Committee suggested trying this methodology for-a_year's time and tracking the results.
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Feedback would be taken and a discussion of the re- evaluation would be discussed at the same
time as the discounts and CPI to see if this methodology is the best practice' or if further
refinements are needed.
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The .consultants have completed their review of the fees, and the Administration will, be
presenting additional fee revisions recommended by the consultants to the Committee in early
2012` as part o
f the . next budget ycle.
10. Conduct a comprehensive review of the methodology used to calculate all fees and
ensure that all documents containing fee information are consistent.
Status: Implemented and on- going
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The Department performed a detailed quality control of all fee related publications to ensure that
they were consistent with the Fee Ordinance and modified them accordingly.
Additionally, a quality control program was installed that requires the Permit Clerk Supervisor to
randomly audit approximately 10% of the -permit fees charged on a daily basis. During the post-
fee implementation period, 100% of the fee transactions were audited to consistency
with the adopted fee schedule.
' With the implementation of a revised fee schedule, the Building Department will again review all
documents containing fee information to ensure accuracy and consistency.
11. Provide adequate physical space for Building Department operations.
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Status: In Progress
The Building Department was allocated additional space on the third floor of - City Hall in order to
be able to provide the space for the electronic plan review work stations. The inspectors have
been relocated to the third floor and the offices on the third floor 'have been refurbished and
occupied
Additional customer service space is being added to the second floor lobby to improve- the
functionality of the Department's processes. A plans storage, and a re- designed records
management room, a payment and information kiosk, and the - electronic plan review work
station area were completed in March 2010. A - monitor, displaying news and advertising
department initiatives has been mounted in the lobby to enhance the customer experience and
promote new services.
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A brand new "'conference room equipped with a state of the art Smart Board was completed.
Lobby improvements have also been completed. Newly designed signage is scheduled to be
installed in the coming quarter.
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17.Analyze. the effectiveness of the Department's technology solutions to providing
customer support; and
18. Increase operating efficiency through the effective use of technology.
Status: Implemented
The Electronic Plan Review System, 'the Central Record Automation initiative, an intuitively
designed and highly functional website, the QMB (the plan review 'walk through queuing
system) handheld computers, and. the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) have all been
implemented. The Automated Vehicle Locating (AVL) system has been installed in the
Building inspectors, Code Compliance officers, and Parking Department cars to improve daily
efficiency and-serve as an internal control tool. The department is also pursuing. a whole scale
replacement of its permitting software, Permits Plus. Please see recommendation number
24 below for further details.
21. Develop ;a formal policies and procedures manual for all building /development
process disciplines:
Status: In Progress
An outside consultant completed a high -level overview_ policies and 'procedures manual for the
Building Department. Department staff is now developing more detailed policies and
procedures to serve as an instructional training manual. Once the manual is finalized, staff will
receive adequate training and copies to ensure th staff is aware of the appropriate policies
and procedures.
24. Perform a comprehensive review and analysis of the Permits Plus system.
Status: In progress
Based on the `review of the existing system, it was determined that the best course of action was
to completely 'replace the system.
a The permitting system replacement will include permitting, inspections, code enforcem - ent, the .
business tax receipt process, the Special Event permit process, and the special master process.
Approximately one half of City departments utilize the current permitting system. The new
system will significantly increase operating efficiencies, provide extensive auditing and security
capabilities, contain internal and external automated notification mechanisms to streamline
operations an'd' enrich the customers' overall - experience with the Building Department.
The City - received ten (10) proposals from various vendors throughout North. America, however
the information technology advisory group recommended to the selection committee that all of
the proposals, should be disqualified because they did not meet the City technical standard. All
proposals were rejected. A new RFP was issued and the City received eight (8) proposals.
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The evaluation committee short- listed four (4) vendors for further evaluation. Demonstrations `by
each of the four (4) vendors were provided. Working Teams comprised of key throughout,
the City evaluate_ d each system and provided their recommendations to the evaluation
committee.
On February', 9, 2011, the City Commission' authorized ' the Administration to enter into
negotiations with Accela for their Accela Automation product. Negotiations were successfully
completed and contracts executed.
Project Kick -Off took place in July 2011. During this period, Accela and its partner consultant,
Kings Canyon Technologies, have been conducting their system configuration analysis. - This
phase entailed holding multiple sessions with all the affected departments to learn, each
department's business processes: This analysis phase is scheduled to be completed in the
upcoming quarter, December 2011. The consultants will now take that information back and
begin configuring the system based on the City's processes, which will then be reviewed by the
appropriate staff. The system is currently scheduled to "go live" in December 2012.
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The following; initiative has been implemented and will no longer be reported on again unless
there is a change in status:
12. Create and staff a high- level customer advocate (ombudsman) position responsive to
customers interacting with building /development process departments.
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