by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
When asked the exact date she was appointed the City Council Secretary several years ago, Cheryl Brown couldn’t remember right off the top of her head, so she called on a new system she and her staff have designed and implemented to provide the answer.
A few points, a couple of clicks and about three seconds later, Resolution 2001-455 was displayed on a computer screen. It revealed Brown was appointed to the post May 8, 2001 after being unanimously nominated by the Personnel Committee.
Efficient electronic access to every available document is the goal of a new protocol being put in place by the Council staff that is designed to make it easy to use a computer to view anything involving government that has historically been printed on paper. The key to quick access (while also cutting costs) is the elimination of the paper part of the process.
“We don’t have time to handle all the paper anymore, so we have converted the entire process to electronic files,” said Brown.
The transition started as soon as Brown was appointed. She said she received some unexpected help when she asked the council to appropriate $300,000 to improve the technology beginning with the audio-video system in their chamber.
“It just so happened while I was lobbying the Council for the upgrades that one of the TV screens blew up during the meeting,” she said.
The funding was approved and the Council staff improved the system in the chamber on the first floor, then went to work to develop the new system.
“We thought of everything as a work flow product and determined where it would end up,” said Brown.
Chief of Legislative Services Dana Farris said the ultimate goal is to make the entire inventory of documents available to Council members, staff and the public on coj.net, the City’s Web site. Much of the information is already posted and so far it’s a hit.
“The number of people calling the City Council on the phone for information is down by 50 percent,” said Farris.
Jeff Clements, the Council’s chief of research, added, “I know people are using it because we don’t get many calls any more and the calls we are getting are to tell us when the system goes down instead of calling us for information about bills.”
Calculating how much paper has been eliminated and how much money is being saved by not having to handle it would be difficult, said Brown. It would be easier to count how many big three-ring binders are no longer needed to manage the flow of documents.
“I know we have eliminated reams of paper because we no longer have to pull and replace pages in and out of the binders.
“By using electronic documents the system also allows us to audit where information went and when it went there and streamlines the process for public records requests,” she said.
The next phase of the system will be put in place next month after the Council begins its new term. Each member will be issued an IBM Thinkpad “tablet” similar to a laptop computer but smaller and lighter and with a stylus-sensitive surface in addition to a conventional screen. The user can take notes by hand and then convert them into a word-processor file that can be saved and downloaded wirelessly.
”The software can learn to read each user’s handwriting and the device can import and export data from all City sources,” said Steve Cassada, the Council’s information and AV systems manager.
He said he’s looking forward to having 19 field tests of the new system and hardware under way simultaneously.
“I’m sure the Council members will identify many more ways to use it and tasks we can make it perform. We’re always looking for more ways to improve our service and save more money.”
Brown added while the system so far is a major improvement, the team will continue to develop other projects.
“We want to make sure the Council members have all the data and information they need in order to do their jobs and at the same time make the information available to their constituents.”