LYNN — Wonder what your neighbor is building in the backyard?
Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan says residents can tap into the department’s online database and find out exactly who has pulled a permit for what. But he can’t figure out why no one is doing it.
“Unfortunately we can’t seem to get the word across,” he said. “I’m surprised more people don’t take advantage of it.”
Donovan got the technological ball rolling over a year ago when he made online applications available for electricians, plumbers and gas-fitters. He said the next step would be to add general contractors but as of right now they must still go into City Hall to apply for a permit.
Contractors, municipal employees and the general public can, however, check on pending applications and the status of current permits, and renew some licenses and permits by logging onto the city’s website. The curious and those waiting on permits can head to www.ci.lynn.ma.us, click on Inspectional Services, click on News and Announcements and finally click on GeoTMSWeb.
“We’re not getting as many online applications as I thought we would,” Donovan said.
But that doesn’t mean he isn’t holding out hope or launching plans to improve the site.
Donovan told City Councilors during a recent meeting that he is working on developing a brochure that would essentially take people through the steps of various services offered by ISD.
“Suppose I want to open a barbershop or how to open a restaurant,” Donovan said. “It’s harder than you think.”
He said he also gets a number of complaints from people wondering why they need a particular permit or why they must follow a particular procedure. He is trying to develop something that would answer all the “FOAs,” Frequently Asked Questions.
“The next step is to take ISD off the city server and put it in The Cloud,” he said.
Information that comes into the office now is largely paper and has to be stored in a vault and input by hand onto the city server. Cloud technology uses resources that are delivered as services over a network, typically the Internet. By using the Cloud everything becomes electronic, all paperwork can be scanned and permitting done on line, Donovan said.
Right now ISD has $22,000 worth of file cabinets in the basement and they are full.
“We’re looking at spending another $22,000 to buy something to put paper in or we could use The Cloud,” Donovan said. “It would brings us beyond most municipalities but it’s where everyone is headed.”
Donovan noted Wednesday that the city has yet to get there, yet.
“We’re still working,” he said. “There have been no leaps or bounds in the last six months only some software changes but we’re still working on it.”
Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].
