In the United States today there are about 24,000 different local government jurisdictions.  This includes: counties, cities, towns, villages, and other small government entities.  Each of these entities performs basically the same types of operations for their citizens in about the same way.  Sure, there are variations between the different entities, but when you look at their functional operations they are almost the same.

For example, almost all of these government agencies do the following or participate in a larger agency that does it for them:

• Issue building permits
  • Building code reviews
  • Planning reviews
  • Engineering reviews
  • Public Works reviews
  • Fire reviews
  • Health reviews
  • Other departmental or higher agency reviews

• Inspect buildings and businesses
  • Building permit inspections
  • Business compliance inspections
  • Code compliance inspections
  • Fire compliance inspections
  • Health related inspections
  • Other departmental inspections

• Repair and Maintenance
  • Street repair and maintenance
  • Facilities owned by the jurisdiction
  • Vehicles and equipment
  • Water, sewer, and other infrastructure maintenance
  • Various other projects within the jurisdiction

• Life Safety services
  • Police
  • Fire
  • Emergency medical services
  • Hospitals
  • Clinics
  • Search and Rescue

• Schools and Education
  • Primary schools
  • Technical schools
  • Adult education
  • English as a Second Language (ESL)
  • Variety of other educational programs

• Public Works Projects

• Internal management

While this list is not a complete list of all the things a local government does, it comprises the bulk of their tasks.  The surprising thing is that almost all jurisdictions either do these things themselves or operate under the umbrella of a larger entity that does it for them.

Each of these operational areas needs some form or electronic system to support their endeavors.  In many cases, there is little or no coordination between the various parts of the jurisdiction in finding electronic systems that are compatible and work together.  Even when a search is made, the vendors often do not cooperate together or are on such divergent platforms that the jurisdiction has no choice but to support multiple different types of platforms.

There can be a better way and that is what this site is all about.  The next segment of this discussion will go into what the jurisdictions are actually spending money on to utilize these systems.  The amount of money spent on an annual basis for local jurisdictions will surprise almost everyone.  So stay tuned for the next chapter and feel free to register to make comments on this and all following discussions.

| More...