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Would you support a policy requiring the City’s Development Services department to achieve its goal of 90% permit review completion within 15 business days across all departments/disciplines by April 2019? (Y/N/Explain)

Todd Phelps

Mayor

Yes. The permitting process is a glaring example of inefficient and ineffective operations. While it would be ideal to improve the permitting process to go from 18 months to 15 business days, it is probably not realistic. Long and costly permitting processes increase the costs of construction and repairs that are passed on to taxpayers. I would want to see a comprehensive plan including a review of regulations and what needs to be permitted. The City budget for 2018-2019 moved approximately $50 million of development fees from the General Fund to an Enterprise Fund and the City significantly increased permitting and development fees. This gives the appearance that the General Fund is holding somewhat steady from 2017-2018 levels, but this is a slick accounting maneuver. Competent management should be able to come up with solutions that are not solely dependent on spending more money.