Online agendas for city council meetings are the latest developments in the city's efforts to go paperless.
While the public has had access to agendas online for some time, paper versions have also been available. The paper versions will be phased out in an effort to save trees and money. As of Sept. 17, the agenda along with the memo portion of the "blue sheets" made available to the press will be found on the Crystal Lake website, www.crystallake.org.
The packets will be available on the website the Friday prior to city council meetings. Mayor Aaron Shepley said that more information will be provided to community members, allowing them to be informed prior to the actual meetings. At the same time, it gets the city closer to its objective of a paperless office, which in effect saves money, boosts productivity and makes information sharing easier.
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"The benefits of going paperless are incrementally small," Shepley said. "But incrementally may add up to be very substantial in the long run."
The city's website was completely revamped earlier this year to improve its effectiveness as an e-government platform which includes GovQA designed to assist residents seeking information and service. Automated modules found on the website specific to each city department's needs may be accessed by phone, email, in person or via the web. Shepley said this allows for increased efficiency and lower costs.
Find out what's happening in Crystal Lake-Carywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Deputy City Manager George Koczwara said that the focus of the paperless initiative has been environmental rather than monetary.
"There's no big bang on this, it has slowly evolved over time," he said. "At this time we're focusing on recycling by using less paper. We haven't done a formal cost analysis."
In addition to paperless agendas, residents can now ask questions on the city's website and submit service requests, he said.
To access city council agendas, visit www.crystallake.org, scroll to the "About Us" tab and click on "Calendar of Events" and "City Council Meeting." This will bring up the agenda packet site.
