Town finds iPads make paperless painless

The town of Cornelius, CO has found that a new pilot program replacing paper with iPads is saving the administration money, time and helping the environment along with increasing government transparency, according to the Huntersville Herald. Cornelius Mayor Jeff Tarte and the towns five commissioners recently each were issued an iPad 2, paid for by the town, which they premiered at the towns board meeting on Monday June 20.

The iPads all plug into the towns NovusAgenda software, providing commissioners with all necessary meeting materials, including budget worksheets, zoning maps and PowerPoint presentations, which once comprised 210 pages of printed materials each. These packages used to be distributed in paper form to 19 members, which meant a whole lot of time spent copying, and money spent leasing and maintaing copy equipment, in addition to the cost of supplies.

Town Manager Anthony Roberts says hes amazed with how much sense it makes to use iPads and digital material instead of paper. Its just a no brainer, he told the Huntersville Herald. We used to print all those agenda packets and people threw them in the recycling bin after the meeting.Plus, Roberts says, going digital helps transparency, since the beauty of this system is you have everything online. Its there forever and a day, and the general public sees everything.

Theres an initial expense associated with the system, but the NovusAgenda software is a one-time fee that should last years, and the iPad 2s are actually relatively cheap, since only the 16 GB Wi-Fi versions are required. Roberts says the city spent between $700 and $800 on each laptop it was purchasing anyways, so the iPad is a much more economical solution. With a gradual rollout, theres no reason to! think t he savings wouldnt scale for larger cities, too.

The iPad is winning fans in government, business and education because its easy to use for almost anyone, and because its very flexible thanks to its support of custom apps that plug into third-party systems and server software. Cornelius is a good example of how it can have an impact at the municipal level, and Roberts points out a very good reason why we might see other cities (many of which are facing budget crunches) follow suit:People ask why? To save money. Theyre cheaper. Thats why.

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