SANTEE GETS ITS OWN APP

By Mike Allen

October 15, 2023 (Santee) -- For everything Santee, there’s an app for that.

Cell phone users or anyone with a digital device linked to the Internet can download the free application, called MySanteeCA, which allows users (with both Android and Apple versions) to access an array of things.  These include the city’s website, a permitting and licensing portal, a space to report city issues such as graffiti removal, and even the city’s own television channel, SanteeTV.

The service, which no other East County city has, was officially rolled out in late August to little fanfare, but now counts some 800 users. Many of them are using the system to obtain building and other permits required for construction projects, or for inspections, according to the city.

It was this formerly paper-centric activity that spawned the move towards digitizing records. Previously, getting permits required physical visits to multiple departments at City Hall on Magnolia Avenue. It also generated a ton of paper documents, all of which had to  be stored in filing cabinets.

That was cumbersome, time-consuming, and fraught with complexity, says Kathy Valverde, assistant to the city manager for Santee who headed up the project to bring the city into the online world.

“The city’s old system was limited in its capacity and did not have the capability to accept or fully process applications online,” she said. “Users still had to come into City Hall to apply for permits and pay bills. It was a ‘paper process’ and multiple copies of paper plans had to be submitted.”

Forward-thinking elected officials knew about this issue and made it a priority to establish an online system for many years, but it wasn’t until Laura Koval got on the City Council that the project really began to take shape.

“Although it was a goal of the council already, I was able to advocate and elevate the need with my firsthand experience,” Koval said, referring to her efforts to install a similar online permitting system for her former employer, Padre Dam Municipal Water District.

Koval, who retired from Padre Dam earlier this year, said the system allows folks to submit their documents and requests from anywhere, anytime, and isn’t tied to the city’s office hours.

“This move represents a significant leap forward in efficiency, transparency, and accountability,” she said.

It also results in quicker turnaround times for approvals and improved accuracy of digital records compared to the old manual entry system, according to Koval.

“With decades of projects and paper stored at the city, scanning and uploading them into a central database is paramount for good governance,” Koval said. It also cuts way back on the costs for printing, storing and processing of paper, while minimizing the need for physical office space to store files, she added.

The system is costing the city about $1.4 million over five years, with about $260,000 of that total coming from government grants. Santee initially entered into a contract in 2019 with Central Square Technologies to create the system, but when Central Square failed to complete the contract as agreed, the city terminated the contract and went looking for a new vender, Valverde said.

In 2022, the city entered into a new contract with Tyler Technologies based in Maine and approved another contract with SDI Presence to help the city implement the new system. Those expenses forced the city to increase its budget for the project by nearly $100,000.

Valverde said the online system has been a hit with many customers who are familiar with doing business digitally. Most of the transactions at this time are for building permits, requests for inspections, service requests and business licenses, she said.

Gregg Gibbs, a construction and maintenance supervisor with Padre Dam Water District, said over the past several weeks he used the system, it’s streamlined the process of submitting permit requests, scheduling inspections and paying the bills.

“The city of Santee has done a great job of implementing this new system, and it is very user-friendly with both the online and mobile applications,” Gibbs concluded.