Office of business permits; creation; department representatives; duties of office.

***** 445.15 THIS SECTION DOES NOT APPLY AFTER APRIL 27, 1987: See 445.24 ***** Sec. 5. (1) The office of business permits is created within the department. A representative from each state department, appointed by the director of that department, shall serve as a liaison between his or her department and the office and shall assist the executive director in implementing this act. (2) Under the supervision of the department, the office shall do all of the following: (a) Provide comprehensive information on permits required for business undertakings in the state and make this information available to applicants and generally to any person. (b) Develop and utilize a computer system to enable the office to store, modify, retrieve, and exchange permit information for purposes of efficiently assisting an applicant. (c) Develop and implement a master application procedure as described in section 7 to expedite the identification and processing of permits. (d) When appropriate, arrange preapplication conferences to clarify the interest and requirements of state agencies with respect to permit applications and to provide for a conceptual review of business undertakings at an early stage of planning in order that interested persons may have an official opinion as to the general acceptability of their planned undertakings. (e) Assist an applicant in the resolution of any outstanding issue identified by a state agency in the processing of an application. (f) Upon request of an applicant, assist an applicant whose application has been rejected to understand the steps that need to be taken in order for the application to be approved. (g) Encourage federal and local government participation in permit coordination. (h) Make recommendations for eliminating, consolidating, simplifying, expediting, or otherwise improving permit procedures affecting business undertakings.