Atlantic Beach, Florida by the Numbers
13,283
Residents
772
Public Records Requests per Month
2
Forms Created
33
JustFOIA Users Across 18 Departments
We had the pleasure of interviewing our client, City Clerk, Kim Flower, with The City of Atlantic Beach, FL.
The City of Atlantic Beach, Florida, is located in the Jacksonville metro area, one of the top largest counties in Florida. Atlantic Beach is primarily a residential and beach community with approximately 14,000 citizens.
See what Kim had to say about the City’s experience processing lien search requests with JustFOIA.
THE CHALLENGE
How did you manage property lien requests before JustFOIA?
The City managed records requests in an Outlook folder. It was not efficient and caused frustration with staff finding details of a request. Although records requests come in waves, depending on the time of year and current events, the City consistently receives 600+ property lien requests and hundreds of records requests per year.
They had folders passed around to each department. When COVID hit, they used an electronic folder. However, the main challenge was all the lost emails. One department would have so many emails in their inbox they did not know which email was for which lien request.
THE OBJECTIVE
Who is your primary customer for property lien requests?
Most lien requests come from lawyers involved in a lawsuit or title companies researching liens for the sale of a property.
What was the biggest factor for choosing JustFOIA?
Accountability. Somebody would call to voice a concern about a lien letter, and we did not have transparency in the stage of the request, who handled it, or if we made a mistake.
THE IMPLEMENTATION
Which City departments use JustFOIA in their day-to-day operations?
All City departments use JustFOIA for records requests, including code enforcement and the zoning and planning department.
The JustFOIA client success team introduced me to the City of Kissimmee, which manages lien requests too. It is nice to know other records clerks doing the same lien letters every day, just like us. We formed a relationship with them and frequently bounce ideas off each other.
THE OUTCOME
The City reduced the time to process the lien search requests by 87%! Now, I have peace of mind knowing everything is in one place, in JustFOIA. I do not have any stress about it. It’s life-changing. The highlight of my day is to use JustFOIA, so thank you.
JustFOIA reduced our turnaround time from three or four days to less than a day.
Interested in seeing how JustFOIA can work for your organization? Contact us by completing the form below.