City of Nashua, NH Leverages Easy-to-Use Community Development Solution from CivicPlus®

Tucked along the Massachusetts border, the City of Nashua, New Hampshire, is affectionately known as the Gate City. Each day, as the second-largest city in New Hampshire, its over 88,000 residents enjoy its sprawling parks and trails system and its art and music scene. For the municipal leaders in Nashua, ensuring the City’s continued economic prosperity is vital, which means having processes and systems in place for the types of community development processes critical to its daily operations. For coordinating code enforcements, permits, licenses, and other project and development interactions with businesses, residents, and staff members, Nashua relies on the CivicPlus Community Development solution, part of its modern Civic Experience Platform.

One Solution for Dozens of Community Development Capabilities

Jason Toohey is the City of Nashua IT Project Manager. He led the implementation and configuration of CivicPlus’ Code Enforcement, Permitting, and Licensing software in 2019 to support a variety of municipal project management and community development logistics.

“We use [CivicPlus’ Community Development software] to help us manage permits, complaints, violations, licensing, scheduling, and inspections,” said Toohey.

Before implementing CivicPlus’ Community Development software, the City of Nashua managed all these disparate yet interrelated logistics using a combination of in-house and third-party software tools. Toohey recalls that the opportunity to replace its network of digital function-specific applications with a single, robust, and scalable tool allowed for one-stop convenience and cost-efficiency.

He worked with his Community Development software representative to implement the necessary functionality needed for each impacted department, configuring the tool to accommodate each team’s workflows along the way.

“For the most part, the software met our needs right out of the box,” recalls Toohey, “but we implemented some enhancements that have benefitted us.”

Digital Transformation and Contactless Government During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Nashua implemented the Community Development software about six months before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the City’s office doors and forced businesses, inspectors, and residents to find digital alternatives to conduct business with their local government.

“Our offices shut down, and we all were working remotely, but we were still able to function by using [CivicPlus’ Community Development software],” said Toohey.

Toohey predicts that the shift toward digital interactions made necessary by COVID-19 will only grow in prevalence in the years to come.

“During the pandemic, many of our inspectors began conducting virtual inspections,” said Toohey. “The Community Development software enabled the documentation and completion of those reviews. We expect virtual inspections to continue for some of our more standard or smaller inspections.”

Toohey adds that the best benefit of CivicPlus’ Community Development software he’s experienced as an IT administrator is its ease of use.

“[CivicPlus’ Community Development software] is the easiest and most intuitive software that I’ve used. It was easy to implement, and it’s been easy to train others to use it, too.”

If you’re ready to learn how an integrated code enforcement, permitting, licensing, fire, and life safety solution can streamline your operations and enable convenient digital services to your community, click here to learn more.