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Palm Beach Gardens, Florida by the Numbers
60,175
Residents
925
Records Requests per Month
4
Forms Created
20
Minutes to Process a Records Request
We had the pleasure of interviewing Jenny Thomas, operations manager at Palm Beach Gardens. Watch what she had to say about the 50% reduction in time it takes to process a records request with JustFOIA:
THE CHALLENGE
In the past, responding to building department requests was a process comprising multiple steps and employees. A simple query might take 30 minutes to fulfill if the information was available in electronic format. But requests for information on older structures often required an employee driving to a storage building, locating the hard copy in a file cabinet, scanning it in, and manually emailing the requester. This process took several hours over multiple days to complete.
THE OBJECTIVE
Jenny and her team had a few objectives they wanted to accomplish by adopting JustFOIA:
- Robust Correspondence for All Parties
- Integration with File Storage for Easy Uploading
- Central Dashboard for Everyone
- Advanced Reporting
THE IMPLEMENTATION
The City chose JustFOIA as the enterprise-wide solution for public records requests across the following departments:
- Police
- Fire
- City Clerk’s Office
- Planning and Zoning
- Code Compliance
- Permitting
THE OUTCOME
Anyone on the team can receive alerts and view tasks, add files via drag-and-drop, and send the requested information from a single portal — having these product features were critical for the team to make the improvements needed. The JustFOIA dashboard shows employees each request’s status, and the reporting feature provides additional insight to the average completion times as well. Throughout the process, clients receive automated replies detailing the status of their requests via the correspondence module.
Now, it takes Palm Beach less than 20 minutes to process a records request!
“The improved customer service alone is worth using JustFOIA. Customers can remain anonymous if they like. Everything is in one location, and the time we spend fulfilling requests has been cut in half. This frees our employees to help customers in the lobby and engage with our community,” Jenny shared.
