Governor Schwarzenegger in his most recent weekly online address to Californians tells a story of
the business owner who operates a chain of restaurants - The Salad Bowl, currently in Texas and
Colorado. 

                                                       

According to the governor's story, this businessman decided a year ago that he should expand into
California and apparently selected a site in the greater Los Angeles area.  He began his work in
preparing to open the first of what he hoped would be 20 restaurants in the state.

                                              CLICK ON TO VIEW GOVERNOR'S VIDEO
                                         http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/video/feature/15760/ 

Schwarzenegger informs the viewer of the trials and tribulations of the permitting and corresponding
inspection process. The governor tells of how the owner followed the code outlined by one inspector
for the installation of a sink and received that inspector's approval, only to be told by a different
inspector that the location of the sink was unacceptable and would have to be moved 6 feet. Yet another
inspector identified to the owner the requirement for rest-room signs of the proper color, while yet
another told him the glass shield in front of the food-preparation area had to be between 26 inches
and 30 inches high. So he installed it at 28 inches high, but when the inspector returned he told the
owner that the owner had misunderstood and would have to take that glass shield out and replace it
with one exactly 30 inches high.

The governor continues to express the owner’s frustrations, illustrating that to achieve such permits
in Colorado it took 60 days and in Texas it took 22 days, but for California it apparently took 240 days.

While the trials and tribulations are unfortunate, this is not about the state bureaucracy and its
permits, but a case study on how local government and its economic development services did not reach
this business owner. 

Typically in California, local governments have for decades embraced what is called, business expansion,
attraction and retention response teams.  These are multi-disciplinary teams comprised of professionals
involved in the application, inspection and permitting process.  The use of these teams provides an
unequalled customer service as those local government employees that are engaged in identifying the
requirements meet with the applicant at one place at one time.  Through this process, the personnel that
will work on the project present the permit information and corresponding timeline for permit and
inspection, estimates of costs and fees.  This is done in concert with a representative from economic
development coordinating the action to avoid any confusion and to provide continued customer support.
And this process cuts both ways.  One, it provides quality customer service to the applicant but
also maximizes local government resources in their deployment of resources, particularly as they become
alert to and aware of pending projects as it relates to workload.
 
While an unfortunate event, it makes for a good case study, one that the governor should tell at the
upcoming League of California Cities conference in September to reinforce that local governments’ actions
are equally important in building a strong economy.  But, in the meantime, maybe the Governor’s Office
of Economic Development can provide a case study for their boss to present where the state was involved
in expediting permits.



As always your comments are welcome!

Tim Johnson
tjohnson@CaliforniaBusinessMinute.com