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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 09-11-2012 - 3 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date:September 11, 2012 Action Agenda Item No.3 SUBJECT:Report on Paperless Agendas DEPARTMENT:Information TechnologiesPUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N)No ATTACHMENT(S):INFORMATION CONTACT: Todd Jones, 919-245-2280 PURPOSE: To update the Board on additional progress on providing a paperless agenda process for Board of Commissioners’ meetings. BACKGROUND: During the 2010 retreat, the Board of County Commissioners expressed interest in pursuing paperless agendas for itsmeetings. In discussions with the Board, the following goals were advanced for such a process: Reduce the amount of paper consumed in conducting BOCC meetings Provide Board members, staff and the public a convenient electronic option for viewing meeting materials Realize efficiencies in the agenda preparation process Based on this input, staff researched various third party options for agenda automation. Research included site visits to peer governments using third party solutions, consulting with vendors and peers on solutions, and evaluating their strengths and shortcomings. Of the third party solutions, two vendors, Sire Technologies and Granicus, Inc., were identified as having the most complete products for agenda automation. These two vendors provided demonstrations to the BOCC attheMay 3,2012work session. After these demonstrations, there was a discussion between Board membersand staff on the merits of these products and their suitability within the organization. It became clear that the full benefits of these two vendor systems could be realized only by applying firm deadline rigor to agenda submissions, and that requests to add items after those deadlines would cause the Countyto lose any efficiency gains otherwise achieved through automation. Further, it was clear that holding parties to strict deadlines could compromise the ability to includeitems on agendas in a timely manner. 2 A third solution, an in-house solution, was proposed. The third solution would involve staff assembling agenda items electronically, using low cost software from Adobe Systems, creating a hyperlinked Table of Contents (called “bookmarks” in the viewing software) which Board membersand staff could use from computers, tablets or SmartPhones. This solution allows private comments to be inserted into the electronic filesto ensure Commissioners could interact with the electronic agenda before, during and after meetings. While this approach does not have all the features and deadline-based workflow of the third party solutions, it meets all the goals set forth in the original request. Further, the electronic agendas would be quicker to download than the current scanned files, the resolution of text and images would be crisper and the agendas would be fully searchable. Lastly, this in-house approach can be achieved with very modest investments in software. This means this solution is well suited for short-, medium, or long term use. One caveat provided by staff is that electronic media be considered the default format over paper, with any formatting conflicts being resolved in electronic format’s favor. The Board requested staffpursue this third approach, the in-house solution. Since that request, staff from the Manager’s Office, Information Technologies and the Clerk to the BOCC have been collaborating to refine the production, distribution and Board member review processes. Staff is initially encouraged with the results, which promise time savings in production, cost savings in distribution, a reduction in paper consumption and, in time, greater efficiencies for the Board, staff and the public. Staff provided an update to the Board on this effort at the August 30, 2012 work session, and will provide a further update at this work session. Information Technologies is meeting with each Board memberinterested in training on the paperless agenda process. It is anticipated that each Board memberwill begin using the new system as they become comfortable with the technology and the process. Refinements will be continually made as feedback is gathered on the new system. FINANCIAL IMPACTS: There is no cost to receiving this report. A modest investment of less than $1,000has given staff the tools to assemble the electronic agenda materials. Cost savings from this initiative will depend on adoption levels, but staff anticipateslong term savings from reduced printing costs and reduced driving costs for delivering hard copy. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board receive this update on additional progressand provide any comments, solicit any feedback from staff,or provide additional direction to staff.