New Customer Services Center Created
John Foreman, a professional planner with more than a decade’s experience working for cities in Texas, has been selected to lead a new customer-focused services center within the City of Rockville’s Planning and Development Services Department.
The section’s mission will be to improve Rockville’s development review and permitting processes, continuing a project underway already through the FAST initiative, an acronym for the project’s goal of making the process faster, accountable, smarter and transparent for residents, contractors, developers, and other customers.
“John has a variety of experience in development services, such as overseeing building permit staff and facilitating development plan review,” Planning and Development Services Department Director Ricky Barker said. “John will be a great asset to our department and the city, and I believe he will facilitate significant improvements to the development and permitting processes.”
Foreman, who will begin with the city on Monday, July 1, will be tasked with creating a one-stop shop for all development and permitting customers, as well as working citywide across departments and sections to implement improvements to development and permitting activities.
“I’m excited to be joining the team,” Foreman said. “I’ve been impressed with both the City of Rockville in general and the Planning and Development Services Department in particular. We have a lot of work ahead updating and improving processes, and I’m confident that we have the tools and team in place to get it done.”
Development Services staff will, among other initiatives, implement software to make plan submission easier, as well as facilitate the review and processing of development proposals and permits through an enhanced multidisciplinary development review committee.