City news in Mercer Island.

July council meetings rescheduled

The Mercer Island City Council has rescheduled its two meetings in July.

The regular meeting of Monday, July 4 has been rescheduled to Tuesday, July 5 due to the Fourth of July holiday. The regular meeting of Monday, July 18 has been rescheduled to Tuesday, July 19 due to council member schedules.

The meetings will be held in the Council Chambers at 9611 SE 36th St. See www.mercergov.org/CouncilMeetings for more.

Plan review process becomes 100 percent paperless

In May 2008, Mercer Island pioneered an electronic plan review process, and many customers took advantage of the benefits: 24/7 access, elimination of paper plans, which are expensive and require storage space and many avoided trips to City Hall.

The system also saves city staff significant time, and the reviewer and client can easily clarify and resolve problem issues while looking at the plans online simultaneously.

In July 2015, the city further improved the submittal process with the introduction of MIePlan, and approximately 95 percent of all submittals are now arriving online.

In an effort to achieve even greater efficiency, the city has decided that effective July 1, all submittals for building permits will be paperless.

The city will no longer accept any paper plan submittals and all building applications must be submitted via an electronic format (such as MIePlan, thumb drive, etc.).

The only exception to this new rule are plans that qualify for, and are submitted during, the over-the-counter (OTC) process at City Hall, at 10 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Mercer Island featured in Comcast’s ‘Neighborhoods’ series

Earlier this spring, Mercer Island was featured in Comcast’s Neighborhoods Series on cable TV, which promotes local towns and cities.

The 10 minute video can be viewed on YouTube and www.wacomcast.com.