The business portal brings together the many applications and permits needed to start a venture and allows owners to complete the paperwork and pay fees online. The site also includes resources on state and local regulations and information on incentives the city offers to new businesses.
Brennan Duffy, executive director of the Rutland Redevelopment Authority, said the site would replace an antiquated and cumbersome system spread across several city departments. Previously each municipal department had its own set of forms or applications, and anyone interested in starting a business had to go to City Hall to get the relevant paperwork.
“All of that can now be done electronically,” Duffy said. “You don’t have to depend on City Hall business hours.”
In August 2015 the Rutland Redevelopment Authority received a $50,000 grant through the Small Business Administration’s national “start up in a day initiative,” which the authority used to create the site.
Similar grants were awarded to larger cities like San Francisco, Boston and Memphis, Tennessee. Rockland, Maine, and Burlington were among the other smaller cities to receive funding.
According to the SBA, the initiative “aims to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start a business by reducing the amount of time it takes to register and apply for permits and licenses on the local level.”
Nathaniel Gibson, project manager and lead developer at Collaboration 133, which oversaw the building of the site, said the portal should simplify the permit and licensing process for Rutland businesses.
The complexity of the site development itself — it took about a year to complete — is a reflection of the lack of standardization and coordination across departments.
Gibson said he was initially given a pile of paper forms, some of which had not been updated in years.
He said the new site allowed the city to standardize paperwork, improve branding by making sure the city logo is at the top of each form, and streamline the application process itself.
According to Gibson, the goal was to make the material easily accessible. Business owners do not need to create an account to download forms. However, if they choose to submit and pay online, an account is required. Business owners can check the status of their applications and whether they’ve been approved.
The website also includes information on incentives the city offers to new businesses, including property tax stabilization initiatives, reduced rates for municipal water use, and assistance in the form of loans or grants.
According to Duffy, the new site should complement other efforts the city and region are making to attract businesses and reverse a more than 10-year decline in the population.
In the last six years a considerable amount of capital has been invested in the downtown business district. Tara Kelly, planning director and zoning administrator, said the most up-to-date figures show that more than $5 million has been invested in new commercial property and more than $11 million in commercial renovations. A smaller amount has been pumped into residential properties, and the occupancy rate for ground level storefronts is near capacity.
In July the city announced it had entered into a lease option with a local developer that could lead to the construction of a hotel, conference center and pedestrian mall.
Gibson, a small business owner in Pawlet, said he’s also working on a redesign of the city’s main website, which was launched in 2006. Gibson said it will look and feel a lot like the business portal and should be far easier to navigate than the current site. It will also allow each department to post information in bloglike form on its particular page and will have an emergency alert system that can be activated remotely.
