I worked in various realms, including mining, commercial, residential, recreational, and institutional projects. One project I was involved in included trying to locate a new proposed commercial building in Arizona.
I called the jurisdiction and explained what we were looking for, and I asked what information I could find to help determine whether this was feasible. I received a call back from someone who I would call a Project Expediter. This person was paid by the municipality, so they did not work for me or the contractor I worked for, but their goal was to facilitate information so that we could make the best-informed decision in the shortest amount of time.
All requests for information went through this person, who then went to the individual departments in the Administration to gather anything we felt was needed. If a department of the Administration wrote me with information directly, this would also be copied to the Project Expediter so they were always kept in the loop.
You could say that their efforts on these larger projects expedited the process of determining viability and getting the project to a decision point. However, it would not be fair to say that this person or this process somehow was in place to circumvent any regulation or process within the Administration. In other words, the queue for any given thing was the same and the project administrator didn’t let anyone jump the queue. However, gathering information at one point of origin dramatically expedites the process, and I can state that firsthand. I would like to see our city have such a position for commercial projects in excess of $2 million.
The other function of this service is to monitor the efficiency of data handling within the municipality’s administration. Basically, it is to monitor the actual process underway from within. Having one point of contact for all departments would benefit Saskatoon and outside business interests.