Every municipal department's work touches the same properties, residents, and contractors. Unfortunately, many municipalities still manage those interactions in separate systems.
The Township of Oro-Medonte, Ontario, recognized the benefits of collaborating on one platform with shared information, standardization, and breaking down silos, not just digitizing one part of the process.
Since implementing Cloudpermit's local government software for its building permit process in early 2022, the Township has moved much of its workflows to this shared platform and now relies on the software for Planning, Municipal Law, Licensing, and Public Works access permitting.
Cloudpermit for us is an all-in-one approach at receiving applications, reviewing applications, and storing correspondence back and forth with the applicant and property owner, all the way from Day One to closing the permit,” said Garry McCartney, Oro-Medonte’s Chief Building Official.
As a Chief Building Official managing a building department, if I can have a consistent approach on how we enforce the building code and how we deliver customer service, that is one of the most important things we do,” McCartney said. “That’s why I like Cloudpermit, because of the consistent approach to each application.”
With Cloudpermit, his team can ensure applicants have an efficient, uniform experience as they secure building permits and township approvals.
I want Joe who submits a deck to have the process as Sandy who submits a deck on the other side of the municipality so they’re going through the same process and they’re getting the same review and everything is consistent,” he said.
For McCartney, the biggest advantage of digital transformation was ensuring every applicant could receive the same experience, regardless of staff member or department.
When McCartney started working for Oro-Medonte in 2016, searching for information was part of the job.
One of the things that happened more often than not was, ‘Hey, does anybody have the property file?” he said.
Sometimes, he’d have to seek out the longest-serving staff member to get their recollection of what happened during a permit years before.
That’s not a problem anymore since Cloudpermit allows unlimited users to all work together and keep consistent, accurate records that everyone can access.
You don’t get that anymore because 10 people can be looking at workspaces at the same time,” he said. “It starts to break down silos.”
McCartney said the value of this shared platform increases the longer Development Services uses Cloudpermit. With all records and decisions on the platform for Planning, Building, and Municipal Law going back several years, and now Licensing and Public Works also in the system, staff in multiple departments can work from the same shared information.
The other thing that I have found quite beneficial is the reporting aspect of it, and that builds,” he said. “The longer you’re in the software, the better that gets for revenue, permit numbers, all that sort of stuff. We don’t have to do impact reports anymore because everything’s linked.”
Working on a shared platform for community development and public works has helped staff in numerous ways.
When you get into it, it starts to get faster because everything’s at your fingertips,” he said. “That’s where we have saved time because everything’s there in front of you, as opposed to the physical files where I have to go look at a record management system, find where the file is, and possibly have to scan some files.”
It’s also helped improve the process for residents who now can get through the application and review process online, when and where it’s convenient for them.
Having that all-in-one, one-stop shop for people is really beneficial because it helps break down the barriers between departments.”
- Garry McCartney, Chief Building Official for Oro-Medonte, Ontario
There are several departments that might handle approvals for a single development, according to McCartney. A one-off unique custom home might require an entrance and road occupancy permit, zoning certificate, and a minor variance. The project could require approval for a sewage system and adding a second dwelling on the property as well.
You can do all of that in Cloudpermit with one username,” he said. “It’s easy to manage; it’s easy to see what’s what. That makes things a lot easier, and Cloudpermit has been that solution for us.”
Adopting Cloudpermit has also benefited contractors, especially those who use the software in multiple municipalities.
Some of the major contractors that we have, they love it,” McCartney said. “This is bread and butter for them because they can look at all their workspaces here, they can look at their workspaces in an adjacent municipality that also has Cloudpermit, and they know the process. That, for them, is perfect. For those contractors, I think it works very well.”
Cloudpermit’s platform has evolved and grown since Oro-Medonte’s Building Division began using it for building permits in 2022.
In recent months, the Township started to adopt its online licensing software to streamline how it handles short-term rentals.
Its first real test of the new licensing processes came about in early August, when Canada’s largest outdoor event venue, Burl’s Creek Event Grounds in Oro-Medonte, hosted the annual Boots and Hearts Music Festival.
With Cloudpermit, the Township was able to manage refreshment vehicle licences for food trucks at this big country music festival in a more efficient way.
Oro-Medonte also recently started using public works permitting software for entrance and road occupancy permits tied to building permits, bringing another piece of these municipal decisions into the same shared platform.
McCartney said the software’s value to the township has evolved as more of its processes have moved online, leading to consistency and more efficient work across even more departments.
It’s also been helpful to have access to immediate support from Cloudpermit when needed, including through the AI-powered support assistant for local governments, NoVa, that was introduced earlier this year.
Cloudpermit is constantly evolving,” he said. “You’re not buying a shot in time of software in technology. Those changes have been absolutely fantastic, and that is a huge benefit to the purchase of Cloudpermit.”
Cloudpermit’s software has helped Oro-Medonte’s Development Services Department transform building permitting, planning, by-law enforcement, licensing, and public works permitting, on one online platform.
While the change has helped the Township replace paper with digital workflows, it’s also streamlined reporting and given staff, citizens, and contractors consistency across departments.
Ready to see how Cloudpermit can improve work and provide better service for community development and public works in your municipality? Book a demo with us today to learn how our software can help.