Listening to Customers Unites Employees and Yields One Stop Permitting Shop

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2014

At a critical juncture when senior leadership was retiring, Coconino County embraced an opportunity to surmount staff challenges and integrate building permit best practices in a more vital way. By listening to customers, reviewing current processes, understanding trends, and ultimately embracing change, Coconino County reorganized its permitting infrastructure in order to better serve its clients. Community Development, Public Health Services District, and Public Works employees found renewed commitment to service provision by streamlining critical permitting processes into a new “one stop shop” that makes regulations less onerous and shifts the focus from letter of the law to its intent. As a result, improved internal communication, simplified project management functions, tailored customer interactions, and overall technical enhancements have helped us achieve greatly enhanced customer service for permitting clients.