Use cases

Seven offices, and the question each one brings to the same records

Each page below opens on an office’s own question, gives one sentence for the manager and three for the board, and ends at the case that comes nearest to answering it.

A three-decker in Worcester, Massachusetts · photograph by John Phelan, CC BY 3.0

HousingEach green house is a home the deeds show rented year-round, found by its address.

Which homes in town are rented year-round, address by address?
How many of our affordable rentals changed hands this year?
Where could a small second home go under today’s zoning, lot by lot?

Massachusetts statewide housing plan, February 2025; 222,000 year-round homes sought by 2035

Sewer work on Winchester Street in Medford, Massachusetts · photograph by MassDOT, public domain

Public worksA hand-drawn water connection card, filed under its lot beside the septic file and the well report.

What does the town already hold on this lot when my crew is at the curb?
Which homes should connect to the sewer first, inside the schedule the watershed permit asks for?
Where does the groundwater come closest to a septic system, by the state’s own well reports?

Massachusetts Clean Water State Revolving Fund, 2026 plan; about $2.08 billion requested against $727.9 million offered

A septic system going in on a sloping yard · photograph by Soil Science, Raleigh, CC BY 2.0

Board of HealthA rental listed with five bedrooms, beside a septic permit written for three.

Which listings claim more bedrooms than the Title 5 permit, the state’s septic code, allows?
When was the system under this rental last inspected, and what did the inspector sign?
Where are the systems near protected water that are due for inspection?

MassDEP Title 5 nitrogen rules, in force July 2023; a five-year upgrade clock on each owner unless the town files for a 20-year watershed permit

A house in Provincetown, Massachusetts · photograph from Pixel.la, CC0

Rentals and permitsEach orange square is a state registration the town can now match to a home.

Why does the state’s list disagree with ours?
Which rentals are operating without a permit?
How many permits have expired while the home is still listed?

Massachusetts Department of Revenue, July 2024; the state registry holds no per-property earnings and is not cleared when a home stops renting

A town meeting in 1947 · photograph by Ed Westcott, U.S. Department of Energy, public domain

Finance and grantsA permit with its work complete, beside the assessor’s card; the growth between them is the assessor’s to certify.

What new growth can we certify before the levy limit is set?
Which permits with the work complete are not yet on my card before the interim-year update, the assessor’s between-revaluation update?
When do this year’s grant windows close, and can our own records answer them in time?

Massachusetts Division of Local Services, April 2026; 204 of 351 towns and cities tax within 1% of their levy limit

Homes standing in the water after Hurricane Floyd, 1999 · photograph by Dave Gatley, FEMA, public domain

Emergency managementA storm comes ashore; each white house is one to reach first.

Which homes do we reach first when the storm comes ashore?
What stands inside the 100-year flood zone, home by home?
Where would an MVP 2.0 plan, the state’s climate-resilience plan, have us start, lot by lot?

2025 Massachusetts Climate Report Card; one town in five holds an MVP 2.0 plan

A house coming down on Queen’s Road, Ryde · photograph by Editor5807, CC BY 3.0

PlanningThe planner tries one proposed building on three lots, and one fits.

What have owners built inside our 3A district, the state’s multifamily zoning law, and what has compliance cost us?
Which lots would fit a proposed project before anyone applies for a permit?
Who owns the land we are planning around, and is the title clean?

Office of the State Auditor, February 2025; the cost of Section 3A “cannot be determined without further data collection”

Open the page written for your office.

Rentals and permits is where the first town’s first question came from, and its page is the shortest road to a case study; an office with no card above can send its question through the contact page, where a founder reads it and replies.

Rentals and permits, the first office page A question for ArtifexAI