A ‘WISE INVESTMENT' OR ‘EXCESSIVE'? City to purchase iPads as they look to reduce costs, paper
Sheri Andrews: I say buy 'em! They don't get paid, they don't get stipends. High stress position. Let them take it out with some Angry Birds!! Makes me wanna run for council ;-)
Vandy Vela: iPads - Very Wise Investment :)
Teresa Abraham: We don't even have the money to stabilize Norreigo Point and more..... WHAT are they thinking? REMEMBER WHEN YOU VOTE.... DO WE WANT THE SAME COUNCIL MEMBERS? I THINK NOT!!!
Ashlee Bears: Norriego Point and office equipment would fall under two different budgets categories. That would be like saying my car or house isn't paid off so until it is I'm going to not buy any groceries.
Mike Martin: Great idea, bad timing.
Rebekah Robinson Murphy: Kool now I can play "words with friends" with them during council meetings.
Jeff McAlum: And of course they had to be apple iPads. Not a cheaper tablet alternative.
Sandi Farr: what about PDF via regular old email? Wait that makes too much economic sense
With about 225,420 pages spitting out of the city’s copying machines a year for council agenda packets alone, city leaders are looking at ways to cut back on the amount of paper they use.
“Let me invite you to my house,” Mayor Sam Seevers said with a chuckle. “We killed some trees.”
As part of an initiative passed in September 2011, the city has decided to purchase a total of 11 iPads to help reduce the amount of paper they are using, which averages out to 450.84 reams of paper a year. A total of $7,800 will be used out of the city’s FY2012 budget, where they had un-allocated funds available.
The seven councilors, mayor, city manager, IT director and city clerk will all receive 32GB,WiFi iPad that cost between $650-$700 a piece.
By using the new technology, the city is expecting to save about $4,000 annually on paper costs, staff time and the gas it takes to deliver the city council packets. The reoccurring costs for software, maintenance and such should cost less than $300 annually.
Currently, city Public Information Manager Doug Rainer says a staff member spends about an hour-and-a-half, 51 times a year hand-delivering the packets to the council members, which costs about $1,606.50. He said the staff also spends about eight hours on the Wednesdays before council meetings assembling the packets, which cost the city between $6,000-$8,000 in staff time.
“They could be doing other things with that time,” he said.
The switch to digital is something Seevers says she has noticed when she travels for her Florida League of Cities and other meetings around the state.
“It’s all done digitally at these meetings,” she said.
As someone who helped push for this transition, Councilman Jim Babgy agreed with Seevers and said that more and more cities, municipalities and government organizations are making the technology jump.
“Over time, this is where things are going and I think it’s a smart investment,” Bagby said. “We want to be a world-class community, so let’s have world class systems.”
Based on community reaction to the topic on The Log’s Facebook page, locals seem to be split on the matter, with some calling it a “wise investment,” while others billed it as “excessive.
With the costs savings evident, the city has already purchased three iPads for “testing” and looks to purchase the remaining eight by April. All in all, Seevers said the switch just makes sense.
“There is no question this is a tremendous cost savings,” she said. “At this point, it’s critical to saving money.”
