The author was given the mandate to "move forms online", so they chose the quickest, most agile option and did just that - moved forms online.

The author later brings up the questions you mentioned - what is a form, should these forms exist, etc, but instead of spending a long time trying to design an entire new system _when that wasn't even asked of them_ they decided to deliver results. Once they gained trust and got buy-in by the city, they could think bigger.