From the desk of Commissioner Steven L. Abrams

As Chairman of the Palm Beach County’s Broadband Coalition, I am pleased to announce the county ranked No. 1 in a national survey conducted by the Center for Digital Government and the National Association of Counties (NACo).  Part of the survey focused on the agility of government’s ability to adapt to the current economic environment while planning effectively for the future.

The county received accolades for its Internet website—a portal for applications, forms, publications and self-service features. The survey results also praised the county for its exceptional multijurisdictional collaboration, solid innovation and great shared services.

Palm Beach County offers numerous Web-based applications for accessing services including ePZB (Planning, Zoning and Building), ePermits (land development), WebEOC (Emergency Management), e911 (Emergency Dispatch), LEX (law enforcement data sharing), HRIS (Human Services) and myGeoNav (GIS). Innovative uses of information technology illustrate the county’s commitment to open access and full disclosure of decisions, operations and programs.

Also recognized was the county’s Broadband Coalition initiative promoting an open access public network.  As a result of this, numerous government, educational and nonprofit agencies are connected to the county’s fiber optic network which provides Internet service via the Florida LambdaRail.  This connection provides these agencies with high-speed Internet access at a lower cost compared to a private provider while providing revenue to the county.    
An additional component to the coalition’s mission is to offer in-kind IT services and grants that provide students with an opportunity to refurbish old computers which are then distributed to underprivileged families and community centers countywide.  The program has proven to be very successful.  In one middle school where the students received the computers, the number of disciplinary problems fell from eleven to zero.  One student told us that because of her “new” home computer, she no longer has to use her lunch money to pay bus fare to take her to the library to use the computer. 

The Broadband Coalition consists of a number of agencies including the county, Florida Atlantic University, Palm Beach State College, the School District of Palm Beach County, the Palm Beach County Education Commission and other public and private organizations.  For more information on the coalition, visit www.palmbeachbroadband.org.  

Other county sites offering e-services to the public are:
ePZB: for licensing, permitting, zoning, building, planning contractor certification, code enforcement, and other applications.  ePZB enables online management of permit reviews, building and code inspections, complaint and case management, impact fee assessment, correspondence, addressing, collection of fees, fines, liens and conditions of approval and credit card payments. 

 myGeoNav:  provides access to view property lines, current and historical aerial photography, political boundaries, parks, schools and school boundaries, coastal and environmental features, county land use and zoning information, Palm Tran bus stops and routes and much, much more.

Please contact me if I can be of assistance or if you have any comments and/or suggestions.  I can be reached at sabrams@pbcgov.org or in my office at 561-355-2204 (West Palm Beach) or 561-276-1220 (Delray Beach).