The Town of Battleford hopes to save $4,000 this year and up to $12,000 a year in the future by following the technological trend of paperless meetings.
It means issuing the mayor and six members of council with tablets, onto which they can download their council meeting information, which will probably cost slightly over $7,000 in total, including software. The Town of Battleford retains ownership of the tablets and at the end of this council's term they will be passed on to the next council.
Going paperless has been discussed for some time, said Chief Administrative Officer John Enns-Wind in a report to council Monday.
Currently, each council member, the mayor and two media outlets, at a minimum, receive a photocopied package for each meeting that eats up paper and time in the making.
Going paperless will also mean more sharing of background information, said Enns-Wind.
"Many private and public organizations are moving to paperless meetings. This method of sharing information provides an opportunity to share more information at the convenience of both administration and council," he reported.
The software the Town is planning to use will upload information to the cloud, and councillors will download it to their tablets. Enns-Wind noted councillors will have to make sure their tablets are charged up for their meetings, because Town Hall does not yet have wi-fi.
The first paperless meeting could take place in April.
