LTC 119-2007 BuildFaxm MIAMIBEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC # ii9-2oo~ LETTER TO COMMISSION
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TO: Mayor David Dermer and Members of the City Commission -C =
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FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager ~ ~~"~ ~ ~''~
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DATE: May 21, 2007 U (,/ ~
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SUBJECT: BuildFax ~^
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In order to continue our efforts toprovide e-government solutions to every day City services,
the City of Miami Beach is implementing BuildFax, available online through the City's
website. Buildfax provides building permit and property information from a single source.
This will allow the general public to access simplified property information in a matter of
seconds rather than days. Using BuildFax will also encourage customers to gain a better
understanding of the permitting process.
Through a contractual relationship with the City of Miami Beach, "BuildFax-Online Citizen
Access allows the public to access certain data from the City of Miami Beach Building
Department 24 hours a day, seven days a week at no charge to them via the Internet. Using
common search fields such as house number, street name, permit number, permit type or
contractor name, the public may query the Building Department database to view pre-
determined information about a property, permit, or contractor. Many municipalities are
incorporating such services into their websites to meet e-government objectives to better
serve their constituents.
As part of the service, Buildfax provides two reports, a "Property History Report" and a
"Contractor History Report" for the City of Miami Beach. These two reports allows the
Building Department to relay information about permits, contractors, and properties in an
easy to understand way for the lay public. The way the City has implemented allows us to
offer BuildFax customer service, and use of additional BuildFax tools to the public without a
fee to them.
The cost for BuildFax "Property History Report" and "Contractor History Report" is $15,585
per year which includes service hosting, technical support, and launch assistance. Annual
service hosting and maintenance carries a fee of $4,500.
Benefits of working with BuildFax include:
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• Ability to accommodate public records requests in real time.
• Easier disaster recovery since BuildFax maintains offsite redundant datasets.
• Save staff time by empowering the public to find necessary information.
• Meet e-government objectives by implementing technology that better serves
the public.
• Greater transparency in government.
• Encourage safer structures by allowing the public to help enforce the permitting
process.
• Allows citizens to make informed decisions when buying a home.
Cc: ~ Tim Hemstreet, Assistant City Manager
Mr. Thomas Velazquez, Building Director