City Council Staff Report Page 1 of 4 July 14, 2026
Staff Report
Agenda Item No. 5.3
DATE: July 14, 2026
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Joan Malloy, City Manager
SUBJECT: Adopt a Resolution Approving a Five-Year Software as a Service Agreement with CentralSquare Technologies for the Community Development and eTRAKiT Online Permitting System, for a Total Cost of $431,788.50 for the One-Time Implementation and Recurring Annual Subscription, Authorizes the City Manager to Execute the Purchase Agreement, and Carry Forward and Increase the FY2026- 2027 Budget by $140,000 for this Project
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution to replace the current Tyler Eden Permitting system with the cloud-hosted CentralSquare Community Development and eTRAKiT online permitting system. The CentralSquare platform will modernize the City’s permitting, licensing, inspections, and code enforcement workflows and provide a fully integrated online services portal for residents, businesses, and contractors. The proposal includes a one-time implementation cost of $60,538.50 and an annual subscription of $74,250.00 for a five-year term. Staff also recommends that the City Council carry forward and increase the FY2026-2027 budget by $140,000 for this project.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
This project supports Goal D: Create a healthy, sustainable community and maintain and improve the City infrastructure.
Strategy 3: Establish an IT governance structure to prioritize technology investments and implement the citywide information technology plan.
BACKGROUND
The City currently uses Tyler Eden Permitting as its permitting platform, originally procured in 2008. After more than 18 years in service, the system lacks modern online self-service features, mobile inspection capabilities, automated workflows, and integration tools necessary to support current community development operations. The vendor end-of-support date for Tyler Eden is March 1, 2027.
Agenda Item No. 5.3
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DISCUSSION
Staff conducted a comprehensive evaluation of five vendor proposals. Proposals were assessed across twelve evaluation categories, with the top three finalists participating in multiple demonstrations. City staff from multiple departments also consulted with partner agencies using the evaluated systems to gather customer feedback. CentralSquare Community Development and the eTRAKiT Permitting System were selected as finalists.
CentralSquare Technologies provides a comprehensive Community Development software suite that includes permitting, planning, inspections, licensing, code enforcement, document management, GIS integration, analytics, and the eTRAKiT online public portal. The system is designed for municipal permitting and development operations and is used by thousands of jurisdictions across the United States.
The Community Development platform is a modern, cloud-hosted application that streamlines every stage of the permitting and development lifecycle—from application intake through plan review, inspections, approvals, and long-term archival. The system consolidates functions currently supported by Tyler Eden Permitting and several parallel manual workflows.
Key Features of the New System
1. eTRAKiT Online Public Portal
Enables residents, contractors, and businesses to apply for permits online Supports electronic document uploads, including plans and related materials Provides real-time status tracking for permits, projects, and inspections Facilitates online payments and renewals
Enables applicants to schedule and view inspection results Enhances public transparency by providing access to records and parcelbased information
2. Permitting, Planning, and Project Management
Fully configurable workflows for building, engineering, planning, and specialty permits
Automated routing of applications to the appropriate reviewing departments Integrated fee calculation based on project type, valuation, or City fee schedules
Tools for managing plan cycles, comments, conditions of approval, and review tracking
Ability to manage complex projects with parent–child record relationships
3. Mobile Inspections
Inspectors can complete inspections in the field using mobile devices Real-time access to plans, documents, inspection history, and GIS parcel information
Ability to upload photos, attach notes, and update results directly from inspection sites
Agenda Item No. 5.3
City Council Staff Report Page 3 of 4 July 14, 2026
Offline capabilities that sync automatically when connectivity is restored
4. Code Enforcement and Licensing
Manage complaints, violations, inspections, hearings, and compliance actions GIS-based case tracking showing activity hotspots
Automated notices, correspondence, and reminders
5. Analytics and Reporting
Over 100 standard municipal reports across all modules Dashboards to track performance metrics such as permit volume, processing time, and inspection workload
Tools to support compliance reporting and year-end summaries The new system eliminates many paper-based and manual processes associated with Tyler Eden Permitting. Automated workflows, online applications, and centralized data reduce staff processing time and minimize errors.
Residents, contractors, and developers will gain 24/7 access to permit applications, inspection scheduling, and payment services through the eTRAKiT portal. This reduces in-person trips and phone call volume while improving transparency and communication.
Planning, Building, Public Works Engineering, Fire, and Code Enforcement teams will share a unified system with shared workflows, consistent data, and real-time status updates.
Mobile inspection tools allow inspectors to complete work in the field more efficiently, reducing travel time, expediting inspection closeout, and improving responsiveness.
The system provides standardized and customizable reporting tools, improving management oversight and supporting data-driven decision-making.
CentralSquare’s implementation includes four main phases and will span approximately 9–12 months. The phases include Project Initiation and Planning, Business Process Review and Configuration, System Build, Testing and Training, and Go-Live and Stabilization. This phased approach ensures effective change management, staff readiness, and stable system deployment.
While the Tyler Eden Permitting system will no longer be supported after March 31, 2027, it is common practice for the City to keep the legacy system running for several years to analyze historical data and settings and ensure data integrity during the transition.
The adopted FY2025-2026 Budget included $260,000 for this project; however, the estimated first-year cost is now $134,788.50. Since this project was not started in FY2025-2026, staff request that the City Council approve carrying forward $140,000 of appropriations to the FY2026-2027 budget.
Agenda Item No. 5.3
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FISCAL IMPACT
Adoption of the resolution will authorize the not-to-exceed one-time implementation cost of $60,538.50 and the annual Software as a Service (SaaS) fee of $74,250.00 for the fiveyear term. The cost will be paid via the IT Account No. 11017001-54111 (General Fund, Information Technology, Contract Services).
Since none of the $260,000 appropriated in the adopted FY2025-2026 budget was expended, it is recommended that the City Council approve carrying forward only $140,000 of the budget appropriation to FY2026-2027 for this project. A Cooperative Purchasing Agreement through NPPGov was used to obtain reduced contracted pricing.
The future recurring SaaS fees will be appropriated as part of the biennial budget process.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution approving a Software as a Service agreement with CentralSquare Technologies for the Community Development and eTRAKiT permitting system, with a total cost of $431,788.50 for the one-time implementation and recurring annual subscription; authorizing the City Manager to execute the purchase agreement; and carrying forward and increasing the FY 2026-2027 budget by $140,000 for this project.
Prepared by: Mario Vallejo, Director of Information Technology Submitted by: Mario Vallejo, Director of Information Technology Attachments
1. Draft Resolution
2. CentralSquare Technologies Quote