Citrus County Achieves Seamless Digital Transformation Through Customer-Centric Approach
Citrus County, located in Florida, processes significant operational demands with 20,000 building permits and 80,000 inspections annually. Under the leadership of Growth Management Director Eric Landon, the county has transformed its approach to service delivery by prioritizing customer service over regulatory enforcement.
Citrus County implemented the Accela Civic Platform to manage its building department operations, with plans to expand to planning and code enforcement in Phase 2 launching spring 2025. By involving stakeholders from the beginning and creating multiple pathways for learning and adoption, Citrus County efficiently manages its services while maintaining exceptional customer satisfaction.
The Challenge
When Eric Landon became Growth Management Director for Citrus County, the county faced 90-day processing delays that created devastating impacts. Contractors couldn’t pay their crews, residents couldn’t move into their homes, and county staff spent their nights answering frustrated emails at 10 PM. The legacy software created an adversarial relationship between the county and the building community. Landon was fielding 200-300 phone calls daily and constantly reacting to crises rather than preventing them.
The county didn’t just need new technology—it needed to fundamentally change how it approached service delivery. Without a collaborative relationship with stakeholders, any new system risked repeating the same problems. The challenge was transforming both the technology and the culture, breaking down the adversarial wall between the county and the building community while ensuring smooth adoption by both staff and external users.
The Solution
To address these challenges, Citrus County implemented a customer-centric approach starting with field trips—riding in pickup trucks with contractors and sitting in cubicles with staff in other counties, asking one critical question: “If you had it to do all over again, would you pick this software again?” This collaborative approach to system selection let the people who would use the technology choose it, rather than having IT or management make the decision alone.
Citrus County treated their software launch like opening a new business with a “soft opening” strategy. The county created a velvet rope approach, letting regular customers who applied for permits daily become exclusive beta testers first. They were asked to try to break the system and identify what didn’t work so the team could fix it before going live.
Recognizing that people learn differently, Citrus County created three distinct learning pathways. The county developed a YouTube video library with two-minute-or-less tutorials on every task, covering how to create logins, apply, pay, resubmit, and schedule inspections. The county offered “Accela 101” classroom training with group sessions for up to 30 contractors walking through a dummy permit with open discussion and Q&A. Additionally, Citrus County provided white glove concierge service where staff sat at their desks with contractors, creating usernames and passwords together and walking through the first application step by step.
The county phased implementation to tackle the highest-volume, most critical function first—building permits—taking those lessons learned and applying them to less pressing functions in Phase 2.
“If the person that is applying for the permit is part of the problem solving, then they’re in. You break down that adversarial wall of us versus them. This darn county, you know, they’re always slowing down the show. But if they agree with the county on the best possible solution and they work together with us on implementing it, then we’re both all in together working towards a common goal.”
− Eric Landon, Growth Management Director
The Benefits
The customer-centric approach provided Citrus County with multiple benefits. It broke down the adversarial relationship between the county and the building community, transforming stakeholders into teammates working toward common goals. The soft opening strategy created champions among regular users who helped others after launch and felt excited to be part of building the end product.
The three-pathway learning approach ensured there was something for everyone no matter how they preferred learning, meeting people where they are rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all approach. The collaborative selection process ensured the technology was chosen by people who would actually use it, both staff and constituents, increasing buy-in and adoption.
The customer service mindset transformed the department’s approach from regulatory enforcement to service delivery. The phased implementation allowed the county to tackle the most difficult, highest-volume function first and apply lessons learned to subsequent phases.
“We provided all those possible scenarios. There was something for everyone no matter how you preferred learning.”
− Eric Landon, Growth Management Director
The Results
The transformation delivered extraordinary results. Three days after going live, when Landon checked with board members asking for feedback, commissioners responded that they had forgotten about the launch and hadn’t heard anything. Week after week, the answer remained the same: silence. For a software launch processing 20,000 permits and 80,000 inspections annually, hearing nothing was extraordinary.
Landon’s phone calls dropped from 200-300 daily to minimal levels. His email box and voicemail, which had been constantly full, remained quiet. Elected officials forgot the county had launched new software—the ultimate success metric for government transformation.
The building department operates a customer service hotline where residents reach a live agent, which Landon notes is unusual for local government. When someone calls, agents troubleshoot issues and route them to the right person with a service request tracked for 24-hour response, providing transparency and accountability.
Phase 2 covering planning and code enforcement launches in spring 2025. Landon has a bigger vision: one county-wide phone number for all government services—stray dogs, code enforcement complaints, library hours, any local government question—providing transparency because the county can track how many calls and service requests are received, response times, and guaranteeing responses to customers.
Citrus County successfully transformed both its technology and culture, proving that government digital transformation doesn’t require massive budgets or cutting-edge innovation—it requires listening to the people you serve, involving them in solutions, and meeting them where they are. As Landon demonstrates, the key isn’t finding perfect software—it’s building the perfect process around it, rooted in partnership, transparency, and recognizing that being a customer service department isn’t just a tagline but a transformation strategy.