Orange County NC Website
Would individual Board members' annotations be considered part of the digital record of each <br /> meeting? Would a single annotation field for an entire agenda item suffice? Or would Board <br /> members prefer to annotate on the documents themselves, the digital equivalent of hard copy <br /> markup? Would those annotations only viewable by the individual Commissioner who made <br /> them? Or would they become viewable among all Board members? <br /> 8) Can Board members' current Internet connections support paperless agendas? <br /> Given the need for Board members to access agenda items from home or on the road, will <br /> their current connectivity support access large agendas? IT can work with the individual Board <br /> members to assess this, but dial-up and AirCard connections will probably prove to be <br /> inadequate to support efficient download of these materials. In some Board members' homes, <br /> there is a verified lack of available broadband options. There may be other options, such as <br /> delivery of "flash" of USB drives. However, this would of course eliminate cost savings of no <br /> longer delivering paper agendas. <br /> 9) Will Board members endorse the resources needed to support this technology? <br /> Information Technologies support will be needed before, during and after meetings in which <br /> this technology is used. Further, support will be necessary for the environment in which the <br /> public access data. Also, if the chosen solution is an end-to-end agenda creation through <br /> distribution and archiving solution, resources will be needed to support the authoring and <br /> workflow environment. This could approach a single FTE in required resources. Finally, the <br /> Board members themselves will need to arrive early if the chosen solution leverages their <br /> laptops, so those machines can be verified as functional. A not to exceed cost limit may help <br /> in selecting the best solution. <br /> 10) Will hard copies still be available for the public, the Board and staff? <br /> This could potentially erode cost savings otherwise realized through print reduction. <br /> 11) Will Board members need the ability to print entire agenda package on demand? <br /> Existing printer technology provided for board members' home offices are generally not <br /> adequate for printing the large volumes associated with our agenda packages. This capability <br /> will require upgrades of County provided printers. <br /> Commissioner Hemminger said that she could not download the agenda itself, but she <br /> downloaded everything else. She said that it would be helpful to have the agenda as a <br /> document. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz asked if it would be possible to have a copy of the agenda <br /> available where the County Commissioners could annotate individually and would not be a <br /> public document. Todd Jones said that he is looking into this, but he does not know about the <br /> legalities of it. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz asked John Roberts if it would be a public record if there were <br /> notes stored on an individual document. John Roberts said that if the notes are just transient, <br /> then no; but if they are substantive, then they would be a public record, especially if the <br /> County stores it on a server. <br /> Commissioner Gordon asked how the staff wants feedback about this. She would like <br /> to know how much it costs now to maintain the system and how much it will cost to go wireless. <br /> She asked how the public would access this. <br />