The Town of Tecumseh was successful in the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ (OMAFRA) Rural Economic Development (RED) grant program. The Town will receive $25,000 (50% of the total cost) to implement measures to streamline the permitting process for the Town’s Building Services Department.

“We have been working on measures throughout the Town’s operations to streamline delivery of services to better serve our residents and businesses,” said Gary McNamara, Mayor of Tecumseh. “These funds will help us implement new technology through digital submissions and online filing for our Building Services Department.”

The Town applied for the RED program in February 2020 under the Economic Diversification and Competitiveness Stream to modernize and streamline the Building Services Department’s Permitting system through digitization, which the department has been looking to implement for some time. The Town’s share of the project is $25,000 for a total estimated cost of $50,000.

The project will include digitizing existing paper files and building drawings, providing opportunities for online applications as well as providing hardware (iPads) for Town Inspectors to reduce the time it takes to process applications, perform inspections and provide comments to builders.

“It’s great to see that our government’s investment in the Rural Economic Development program will make it easier for people to access building services in the Town of Tecumseh,” said Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. “The modernization of the permitting system through digitization means residents and businesses can save time while tracking the status of their inspections and permits.”

“The pandemic has shown us the need to have digital services available as well as reduced times for approvals for things like construction permits, plan approvals and inspections,” said Brian Hillman, Director Planning & Building Services. “With this funding we will be able to cut the process time and eliminate the extra steps required for approval like having to visit Town Hall, having our inspectors going back and forth to view files by providing ease of access to digitized files.”

The project is already underway with the creation of digital files and forms. It is anticipated that the Town will be able to accept digital submissions by mid 2021.

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Media Contacts:

Brian Hillman, Director Planning and Building Services, 519-735-2184 Ext. 131

Shaun Fuerth, Director Information & Communications Systems, 519-735-2184 Ext. 108