Yesterday, I posted on the use of paper documents rather than timely and easily accessible public ones, in places like my own town, Whitewater, Wisconsin. See, “It’s in Your Packet.”
The best part of publishing a website isn’t writing, but is reading the good ideas and information from generous readers. A fine example would be information on how the City of Beloit, Wisconsin has successfully and efficiently adopted an all-electronic documents policy. Here’s what a sharp reader had to say:
The City of Beloit makes all packets and agenda materials available online. You can even sign up for email updates to let you know when they are updated.
Beloit doesn’t even print them anymore. City Councilors have laptops and these are used to review agendas and packet materials before and during meetings. If a councilor doesn’t want to use his own laptop, the city issues them one while they are in office. IOW [in other words], it’s all electronic, all the time.
This reference link is from today’s email about agenda and packet change:
http://www.ci.beloit.wi.us/index.asp?Type=B_LIST&SEC={E7943B08-6186-433D-9E85-5886936EFA04}
That’s a solid practice: timely, complete, open, economical, and truly green, too. The Beloit area also has some of the highest unemployment in the state, but that hasn’t stopped them from moving toward a practice that all Wisconsin communities should (and will surely) adopt as part of our state’s promise of good and open government.