SANTA ROSA BEACH — Walton County commissioners are taking a measured strategy to a Walton County Vacationer Improvement Council (TDC) effort to get a digital tourism utility up and operating.
Preliminary plans name for the app to permit vacationers to e book seaside set-ups (umbrellas and chairs) from distributors, however over the long term, the app is envisioned as a house for accessing different tourist-related companies, together with, amongst different issues, climate data, journey planning help and dwell webcams offering views of the world.
Moreover, the app additionally would embrace the capability for issuing “push notifications,” offering instant data to customers with regard to seaside questions of safety equivalent to harmful rip currents.
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Funding for the app would come from the 5% “mattress tax” assessed to guests to the county. The tax raises hundreds of thousands of {dollars} every year, with expenditures requiring approval of the Walton County Board of County Commissioners.
After listening to from TDC Govt Director Jay Tusa at a latest fee assembly, and after seeing a 31-page request for proposals (RFP) from certified digital app builders, commissioners voted unanimously to usher in an area third-party knowledgeable to try the prolonged doc earlier than it’s made public for responses from any events.
“I do know what the aim of the app is, and I believe that’s the route we have to go in,” mentioned Commissioner Mike Barker, who made the movement for the third-party evaluation. However, Barker added, “among the technical stuff is over my head … and studying the RFP, among the wording I do not get.”
“I’d ask that we let an uninterested third celebration — any individual that’s acquired some IT expertise — look over this and ensure we’re not forgetting one thing,” Barker mentioned, happening to point out the title of somebody he thought was certified to do the work.
Commissioners went with Barker’s suggestion, however indicated that the knowledgeable’s work with the TDC — there was no indication how a lot, and even whether or not, the knowledgeable can be paid for weighing in on the RFP — would must be saved secret.
“We have to make actual positive that what (the third-party reviewer) does in working with the TDC … doesn’t get out to the general public,” cautioned Commissioner Tony Anderson, “as a result of we’ve native folks which are going to be bidding on this, and we don’t need them to have an unfair benefit or drawback. I don’t need anyone … that someway will get disqualified as a result of they’d data beforehand.”
In presenting the RFP to commissioners, Tusa famous that the preliminary give attention to seaside set-ups mirrored earlier discussions with them, through which they expressed a want for getting some management over when and the place seaside “units” are being rented and positioned. That concern got here in response to persevering with citizen complaints concerning the variety of “ghost units” — set-ups put in, however not occupied — on the county’s seashores.
“We needed to focus totally on the seaside merchandising elements as we launch this, after which we might add these (different companies) later,” Tusa mentioned.
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In line with the RFP, the app additionally might be anticipated finally to offer some companies to help the county authorities, together with issuance of permits required for particular occasions, bonfires and different seaside actions, and the power to gather fines levied towards seaside distributors for violations of native laws.
The app developer finally chosen for the mission might be anticipated, the RFP notes, to offer the county with demographic knowledge derived from the app, together with the monitoring of app downloads, the variety of lively customers, the elements of the world from which the app is being accessed, and what companies accessible by way of the app are getting used.
Beneath phrases of the RFP, the app developer which finally might be chosen for the mission — the doc provides the county the proper to reject all or any responses — will need to have at the very least three years of expertise in app growth, and might be required to submit at least three examples of profitable app developments that parallel the county’s wants.
As written, the RFP provides any builders till June 5 to submit inquiries to the county about its request, with the present schedule calling for the county to open any acquired proposals on the afternoon of July 5 earlier than making any selections on the right way to proceed.