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2 <br />the Orange County Board of Commissioners, the County Manager's Office, the Office of Human <br />Rights and Relations, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Health, and the <br />Chapel Hill Institute for Cultural and Language Education (CHICLE). CHICLE was selected <br />because it is a locally owned and respected firm, the County had an established relationship <br />with it for purposes of training and translation, and its staff had the knowledge, experience, and <br />credentials to create the necessary Tool. To date, a total of 24 County employees have <br />voluntarily participated in the Spanish Assessment Tool. <br />Highlights of Inspect Plus <br />On November 1, 2007, the Orange County Building Inspectors went paperless in the field. Dan <br />Bruce of the Inspections Division developed and implemented new software that was installed <br />on ruggedized laptops for the Inspections staff to process inspection results in the field. The <br />`Inspect Plus' software serves as a bridge to the permitting software, `Permits Plus', that was <br />purchased in 2001. `Inspect Plus' imports permit data and exports inspection data back to <br />`Permits Plus' through this implementation and has accomplished the following goals: <br />® Reduction of paper in the permitting and inspections process by 70% <br />® Saved staff time by eliminating duplicate data entry <br />a Increased efficiency of staff time to allow completion of more inspections per day <br />® Maintenance of the Emergency Services/911 GPS addressing project <br />® Increased communication with permit holders and contractors and improved <br />consistency of inspection code interpretation thorough use of electronic code <br />information and through expanded use of tables, charts and code commentary to <br />support code interpretation <br />® Collects detailed inspections data for use to provide for contractor training seminars <br />on typical code deficiencies. <br />The field computers using the `Inspect Plus' software have allowed staff to improve customer <br />service, staff efficiency, communication and public safety through sharing of data through the <br />enterprise GIS and 'Permits Plus' (Orange County permitting software) systems. <br />FINANCIAL. IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with the presentation of the <br />NCACC awards to the County. <br />RECOMMEIVDATIOId(S): The Manager recommends that the Board accept the awards and <br />commend staff for its efforts on these initiatives.' <br />