Addressing the complex wastewater department needs of Saint Louis County, Minnesota

The On-Site Wastewater division needed to replace a legacy system and turned to us after several successful implementations in other Saint Louis County departments.

The Challenge

Several of the departments in Saint Louis County, Minnesota currently use FastTrackGovⓇ (FTG) to issue licenses and permits. They have a history of using FTG to process liquor licenses, land use permits, precious metal dealer licenses, horticulture event licenses, and tobacco product licenses (among others). Additionally, they use our financial services software, Financial Management System (FMS III), to process payments.

An additional department, On-Site Wastewater, needed a platform to replace an outdated legacy system. With internal department changes at the county level, they felt it was the perfect time to update to the FTG permitting system, inspired by the successes realized from the Land Use division.

For this use case, the department needed specialized permitting for septic permits. Septic permitting is much more dynamic and integrated than land use permitting. A septic record is attached to a physical property in perpetuity, and creates additional complexities with master and sub-permit records. In addition to a system with the capacity to process these types of permits, they also had to store and organize their legacy data.

The Solution

On-Site Wastewater appreciated the online advantages FTG has to offer, such as allowing the citizen/contractor to apply and pay for permits online, thereby increasing processing efficiencies.

FTG enabled increased efficiencies in processing permit applications by creating more real-time visibility in permit activity. In addition to monitoring that activity and generating on-demand reports, the staff now has the ability to search for other permits and licenses for the same property for seamless septic permit processing.

The Impact

FTG immediately increased efficiencies in processing applications and payments online, creating greater satisfaction and support from both septic contractors and property owners. Because these tasks can be completed online, the number of in-person walk-ins has been greatly reduced.

“FTG has provided more than just automation,” said Ryan Logan, On-Site Wastewater Manager. “Integration has increased our permit processing efficiency, expanded cross department collaboration, and seamlessly ties into our financial system. We now have additional visibility into real-time permit activity so we can better manage our workloads.”

Conclusion

As Saint Louis County continues to find more opportunities to improve workflows and payment systems with FTG, the Vital Statistics department is looking forward to implementing FTG for its vital record processing.