City council experiments with 'paperless office'

The Columbia Falls City Council experimented for the first time with the “paperless office” concept at its Feb. 4 meeting.

City manager Susan Nicosia said the councilors had expressed interest in going paperless over the past year. The goal was to reduce the cost and associated waste with providing complete council packets to the councilors, department heads and other key staff — 14 copies in all.

Council packets include agendas, minutes, ordinances, resolutions and related documentation, reports and studies, planning and zoning applications, and correspondence. Packets can run from about 30 pages to several hundred pages.

“Councilor Shawn Bates was to be the test case at the second meeting in January,” Nicosia said, “but we tested the process with the entire council at the Feb. 4 meeting — not a long agenda.”

Packet documents are converted to .pdf files, which can be posted on the city’s Web site and projected on a screen during meetings. Councilors using wireless laptops can access the packet during meetings.

Nicosia said the city did some “tweaking” with the city Web site last year using WordPress software, updating photos and data, and posting minutes and newly adopted resolutions and ordinances.

“Most of the work updating data and posting items is done in-house between city clerk Todd Watkins and me,” Nicosia said. “The city contracts with Mark Riffey of Rescue Marketing to maintain the Web site.”

City code has been posted in a searchable form on the city Web site for about five years, Nicosia said. In addition to the council packet, the city posts budget documents, annual reports, audit reports and the growth policy on the Web site.

“We are trying to provide information on the Web site to keep the public informed and up to date,” she said.

A new feature visible on the right side of the top menu bar is the “Pothole Report,” which Riffey added to the Web site in January at the request of the city council. The council on Feb. 4 discussed changing that menu item to “Weed Report” as winter moves into spring.

“There has always been a link to contact us that automatically sends an e-mail to the city manager and city clerk on whatever topic the sender wishes,” Nicosia said. “The message is then handled according to the topic.”

The newest addition to the city Web site is the link to the new promotional video created by Badfritter Films. For more information, visit online at http://cityofcolumbiafalls.org.