Board grants temporary renewal to Now Electric after city permit system problems

The Michigan City Licensing Board voted Feb. 3 to suspend its usual renewal rules and allow Now Electric’s registration to be renewed after the building department said the contractor encountered technical problems uploading documents to the city’s cloud permit system.

David Albers, identified in the record as the city building superintendent, told the board that Now Electric submitted most required documents on Dec. 29 but only provided updated insurance and workers’ compensation certificates on Feb. 2. "At the request of the mayor, I would please ask the licensing board to consider granting a 7 day extension to the grace period for contractors to renew their registration," Albers read from his memo. Board members debated whether leniency would set an uneven precedent but cited the system transition as a mitigating factor.

One board member summarized the concern: "If you let the one guy go a week, why can't you let the other guy go two weeks and then a month?" The board ultimately limited the accommodation to the single applicant at issue; members voted to suspend the rule for this renewal and approve the registration for Now Electric by voice vote.

The board instructed the Licensing/Inspection department to accept the submitted documentation and to return any application to the board if required documents are not provided in the allotted time. The decision was framed as an operational exception tied to the recent changeover to the cloud permit process, rather than a permanent policy change.