Paper cuts : Council considers move to electronic agendas
Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Standing behind a stack of 18 reams of paper that towered above her, the Fayetteville city clerk recommended to aldermen on Tuesday that they go digital for their agendas.
The stack represents the 9, 264 copies each person gets just on the agendas every year, Sondra Smith said.
If they choose to go away from paper copies, council members and city officials could get the agendas on computer discs or flash drives for computers, she said.
The city of Fayetteville is rather behind in this particular aspect of cost-saving measures, she told council members in a memo about the proposal.
Smith reported that yearly paper costs for the agendas alone are $ 361. 30 per person. Computer discs would cost about $ 7. 20 per person per year, and flash drives would cost about $ 30 per person annually, she said.
She estimated the city spends about $ 4, 700 a year just on the paper for agenda copies.
That doesnt include all the other paper documents, she reminded the council.
Smith anticipated that her division could reduce the amount of paper purchased by about 120, 000 pages, reduce copier maintenance costs, increase the life of the copy machines and reduce the amount of ink purchased for the copy machines if the change to digital agendas is approved.
Savings would be realized in 24 months based on current estimates, according to her memo to the council.
Smith suggested that for the council to make the switch to electronic agendas, a laptop computer should be purchased for each of the eight council members.
She estimated laptop costs, with programs, at $ 1, 167 and said the city would realize payback for the computers in less than three years.
Some electr ical work would also be needed in the council chamber, she said.
Another good feature would be map quality on council documents, especially for color maps, she said.
Eventually, what our goal is is to get people to turn in their documents electronically to the city, she said, referring to developers.
Ward 1 Alderman Brenda Thiel expressed concern about not being able to add notes to an electronic agenda. Later she expressed support of the paperless agenda after Smith talked about attachments and note capabilities.
Smith told council members that another advantage was that they would not have to recompile their council notebooks when information or items were added to the agenda after the agenda session.
Ward 2 Alderman Kyle Cook, who sometimes uses a laptop at council meetings, suggested another advantage.
Using it in the council chambers is great because we have live wireless in there, he said. You can look up our code and stuff while youre sitting there. You can even research old ordinances or whatever.
Obviously, its a good idea, Mayor Dan Coody said.
Pointing to the stack of paper, he said, That right there times nine of us equals a pallet of paper a year thats unnecessarily used.
Coody said he guessed everyone was set to move forward with the idea and told Smith to put the idea on a future agenda for consideration.
Smith said to start the process at the beginning of 2009 would mean purchasing the equipment and getting ready in 2008.
Making the change to electronic documents, including the laptops, discs and external drives, was not included in the 2008 budget.
Smith said she had already reduced her office budget next year by more than $ 2, 000 in paper costs, hoping that the council would agree to the idea of electronic agendas.
If I can do it, I think anybody in this room can do it, she said.
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