The Codes Department was struggling to enforce their short-term vacation rental regulations (STR) through a mostly complaint-driven process. With Host Compliance, Nashville has more than doubled their compliance rate; 91% of STRs have a permit and are paying taxes with Metro.
Nashville, Tennessee
How the Codes Department Achieves 90%+ Compliance With Host Compliance
Overview
Units per Employee
1,400
45%+
Increase in Compliance
Nashville doubled their compliance rate with Host Compliance.
5,700
Units
Nashville has approximately 10 STR units per square mile.
Compliance
Over 90% of Nashville’s STRs hold permits with the City.
The team of four enforces regulations for 5,700 units.
90%
Nashville attracts millions of visitors each year. To support this tourism, Nashville’s short-term vacation rental (STR) market exploded, and suddenly, the famous honky-tonks weren’t the only hosts to late night parties — so were short-term vacation rentals (STRs).
The Metro Government of Nashville and Davidson County faced growing public concern for STRs operating illegally. “Nobody wants a fleet of micro-hotels, bought up by investors, popping up in their quiet residential neighborhood,” said Jon Michael, Zoning Administrator. “That’s why you have a permitting scheme.”
While some STRs were operating in residential neighborhoods illegally, other STRs were operating in the correct zone but weren’t obtaining permits and paying taxes. There were also accounts of hosts filling STRs with as many beds as possible. The Code Department was quickly met with a backlog of complaints.
Metro was struggling to enforce their STR regulations through a mostly complaint-driven process. Trying to identify addresses and manage compliance manually proved impossible — there are over 60 active rental websites and they keep information like addresses and contact information private. “It doesn't mean anything to have the permitting scheme if you can't enforce it,” added Michael.
5,700 STRs to Enforce
With Host Compliance, Metro can identify illegal operators before there ever is a complaint —from the safety of their desks. “It’s an insane use of resources to send code enforcement officers out into the field every day to try and catch illegal operators. It’s dangerous,” said Michael.
From Reactive to Proactive Enforcement
Since implementing Host Compliance, Nashville has more than doubled their compliance rate; 5,525 or 91% of STRs have a permit and are paying taxes with Metro.
“Being able to enforce our permitting scheme takes heat off the codes department. Before, we’d receive criticism from the public, from government leaders, from the media that we weren’t doing our jobs. Now, we can show that we’re doing our jobs, and we’re doing them well.”
When a short-term rental host applies for a permit, the associated fees go into the Metro’s general fund to pay for pensions, public safety, pothole repairs, etc. Some of the fees go into an affordable housing fund where they’re used to facilitate affordable housing for lower income families. “If an investor owns 10 rental houses in Nashville, and he's using eight of them as short-term rentals, that's eight houses that can't be rented out to the young couple getting started, to the single mom, or to the retiree,” said Michael. Using the funds from short-term rentals helps ensure sustainable development in Metro.
91% Compliance Rate
How wrexham county council improved citizen experience through integrated communications & service delivery
Overview
The county council knew the first step to improve the citizen experience was to modernise the way they communicated bin removal services. To ensure citizens received relevant, timely and automated communications, Wrexham implemented Granicus’s govDelivery email, mobile message, and social media platform. Now, they have the sophisticated marketing automation and audience segmentation required to deliver personalised waste and recycling bin collection reminders to over 12,000 residents. Targeted email messages from the county empower residents to take the correct action at the right moment.
These reminders — delivered alongside educational messages about what can and can’t be recycled — are positively impacting local recycling rates. For example, more customers know what can and can’t be recycled; the number of bins not being collected due to contamination has decreased by 27% since implementing govDelivery.
With Firmstep, the county’s digital customer services solution, integrated with govDelivery, their communication platform, the customer experience is seamless.
How does it work? When a customer visits the Wrexham website and enters their address in a form, Firmstep automatically looks up the customer’s collection day and calendar, then sends the information into GovDelivery, which automatically signs the customer up for their bin reminder emails. After that, the customer receives relevant, timely, and automated information about their bin collections. This combination has improved sign-up rates and ensured Wrexham reaches more citizens.
How the Firmstep + GovDelivery integration streamlines service
Satisfaction Rate
Citizens love the online experience they are receiving
93%
Increasing by 500 new accounts per month
18K
Self-Service Accounts
Bin Reminders
12K
Increasing by 800 subscribers per month
The result of targeted, proactive communications
Reduction in Calls
48%
Must-have Granicus product
Could your citizens benefit from seamless and integrated digital experiences? Get in touch with us today to learn more about how Granicus can help!
Situation
Solution
Results
Background
Like many local governments in California, the team at the Napa County Election Division has many critical duties in support of local, state, and federal elections. They also must help ensure all required government officials disclose their financial interests.
Designated filing officers must accurately track, manage, and deliver documents related to the disclosure of government employee and elected official Statement of Economic Interest, known as Form 700 in California. The process is regulated by the State of California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).
Staff at the Election Division have their own goals to increase efficiency and make sure officials file on time. Napa County’s recently updated strategic plan has a priority goal of making government more transparent.
A Mandate for Transparency & Efficiency
Situation
Solution
The DisclosureDocs implementation team worked closely with Napa County staff to meet their tight deadline. After their kickoff meeting in January 2019, they migrated files, trained staff, and then deployed. In the end, they were able to implement DisclosureDocs by their deadline of April 2.
From Manual to Automatic
Results
Powered by Self, MyDurham is the self-service portal which is transforming the way Durham County Council interacts with its citizens.
Every week more than 300 people sign up for a MyDurham account and thousands of citizens every day log in to access informationand carry out tasks, such paying a Council Tax bill or requesting a service.
With more people self-serving, the number of telephone and face-to-face contacts has fallen dramatically, enabling staff to focus their time supporting citizens with the greatest needs.
Rich Data
At least 40 citizens every day share their feedback on council services with the organisation. Those views together with the extensive citizen data gathered through the Platform are shared widely across the Council via the easy-to-use reporting dashboard.
Thanks to govService, Durham County Council staff now have the insights they need to make evidence-based decisions and policy.
Spotlight on the Missed Bin Process
Bin collections are an essential part of any council's service to its citizens. When bins are missed by refuse staff, people contact their council for information about what has happened and how the council will remedy the issue.
Although Durham County Council's missed bin process was fully integrated to get live updates from their in-cab system, the Council were determined to go a step further and make life easier for their citizens by removing the need for them to contact the Council.
In the new process refuse staff experiencing a problem, such as a road block or traffic delay, can carry out a postcode search and send SMS alerts to all citizens in that area, letting them know that their bins haven't been collected and what will happen next.
This new process is only possible because of govService's in-built Integration Manager. This unique capability enables the easy integration of internal and external back-office systems, in this case postcode databases, details of contact preferences and alert providers.
With govService, Durham County Council is able to deliver outstanding customer service, streamline their processes and drive down costs. They are reaping the rewards associated with channel shift and achieving the aims set out in Altogether Better Durham.
Over 100,000 People Use MyDurham
– Jon Michael, Metro Zoning Administrator
Just the presence of Host Compliance has been a natural deterrent for those who might intentionally or unwittingly violate the laws regarding short-term rentals.
“We're able to stick with the staffing we’ve had because Host Compliance does the lion’s share of the short-term rental enforcement work.” –Jon Michael, Metro Zoning Administrator
Metro moved forward with a Request for Proposals (RFP) process to explore available software solutions. Granicus' Host Compliance software addressed all of Nashville's pain points. Not only did it provide high rates of address identification, but it provided an all-in-one solution for communicating with hosts and providing an online portal for them to apply for a permit and pay taxes
“Our compliance rate is more than double what we had before Host Compliance. That’s better than if we continued compliance efforts manually, and I believe we’re doing better than with any of the competing products out there. Most products don’t have the same capabilities or scope of work that Host Compliance provides”
govDelivery has been reliable in our everyday operations, but also in crisis. Our citizens love that they can hear from us via text.
- Meadow Bailey, Communications Director
“For us, govDelivery makes it easy to push messages out and quickly. The text message component is also important because sometimes people aren’t looking at their email. With text, people are alerted, and they can check email or go find more information.”
The County had already selected Granicus as a partner for their website and digital communications software — the addition of a digital customer service platform from the same vendor made sense.
“With Granicus, we could tie our service platform, our website, and our digital communications all together. If you have a question, you can ask one vendor your question instead of asking three vendors the same question.” – Samantha Radomski, Administrative and Web Content Specialist
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Must-have Granicus solution
Host Compliance
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