Last week Councillors gathered for a training session in preparation for paperless agendas .
The program is designed by a former municipal clerk in Germany. It has been in use for twenty years
With various changes over the years to bring it to best performance.
Aside from man hours and materials ,which savings should be phenomenal, residents will have a substantial advantage over current service.
The agenda will be available on the town's web site. But that's not all. Reports and attachments will also be available to all on-line users. The only stuff that won't be available are in-camera materials
The town's record of minutes of meetings from the year 1956 will also be accessible.
That gargantuan task has already been undertaken and completed by the deputy clerk and manager of legislative services. I can't provide her name. Staff don't like to see their names in blogs. But she deserves a vote of appreciation.
Imagine the paper, the copying, the printing , the collating of pages and the pressure to meet the deadline for agendas to be ready that will no longer be a part of the routine.
Councillors will be provided with tablets to use while we are Councillors.
That's the part that makes me a little nervous though I must say the process seems surprisingly simple. I may have to eat those words.
There will still be a need for a few paper agendas. I keep wondering how many homes in Aurora are not on line and not receiving the benefit of on-line service. I think when we are talking about communications we really need to know how many people are getting it and how many not.
BTW I asked the Auroran editor if a person can vote on their polls multiple times. Enough to skew the vote.
Theoretically they can . But each vote would be ten hours apart and need time and patience and perseverance to make a poll inaccurate
Last night Council was discussing a schedule for budget meetings . Public participation came into it.
I reminded them of the Auroran poll showing more than 80% of residents opposed to the youth centre.
No attention was paid to that.
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
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4 comments:
But you got it in there. Well done.
Now, if they had a pole on the Culture Plan, would anyone bother to even vote? Methinks that would be a negative.
I think Councilor Thompson heard you. He mentioned shortly afterwards the need to pay attention to the concerns of all residents over spending.
People can't have it both ways. It is irresponsible to pay heed to a poll that supports your position while rejecting a similar one that doesn't.
The results of the poll in the Auroran are significant. The youth center proposal will be a very significant expenditure. I do not support it.
The Mayor is fixed in his position to proceed. To him, it seems, costs are not an issue. Short falls can be dealt with by simply raising taxes. He is on record as saying you have to raise taxes.
The Deputy Mayor likes spending too. He is also on record as saying taxes must increase.
With their combined "fuzzy" thinking we have no worries. It is as easy as the Mayor asking the treasurer to calculate a tax increase. No thought whatsoever to those now retired and others on tight budgets to what increases above the level of inflation mean.
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