AGENDA #7a
BUDGET WORKING PAPER
TO: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
FROM: Joyce A. Smith, Town Clerk
SUBJECT: Cost/Time Savings to Provide Council Minutes and Other Documents Electronically
DATE: April 3, 2002
At the Council’s February 27 budget work session, a Council member requested information regarding cost or time savings that might be experienced if Council meeting minutes or other documents were provided electronically.
Beginning with the February Council meeting minutes, the Council began receiving the draft minutes via email, unless requested otherwise. This system enables the Council to receive the draft minutes more timely, reduce staff preparation time, and reduce paper usage. Minutes continue to be provided in hard copy form when scheduled for adoption on the Council’s meeting agenda.
Beginning with the March meetings, attachments to Council agenda items normally will be available on the website along with the manuscripts. We now have equipment needed to scan documents prepared by others (letters, sketches, petitions, etc.), convert them to electronic form and put them on the website.
Production Costs of Minutes
Using calendar year 2001, we determined that the Council minutes for those 52 meetings were 1,168 pages in length. A total of 46 copies are produced: 16 for the Council and staff, 13 mailed to citizens, and 4 for the media. We now are providing computer access to agenda files to departments and other staff to eliminate the 13 sets of minutes for departments as well as the 6 staff. A cost breakdown is provided below:
|
Category |
Council and Staff 16 sets |
Citizens 13 sets |
Media 4 sets |
|
Copies (1,168 pages x 16 sets x $.0227/page) |
$424.22 |
$344.68 |
$106.06 |
|
Paper @ $2.23 per ream x #of reams* |
82.51 |
66.90 |
20.07 |
|
Postage (average of $3.60 x 12 mos. x 13 sets) |
-- |
561.60 |
-- |
|
Envelopes (12 mailings x 13 sets x .07 each) |
-- |
10.92 |
-- |
|
TOTAL |
$506.73 |
$984.10 |
$126.13 |
*16 sets = 37 reams; 13 sets = 30 reams; 4 sets = 9 reams.
NOTE: Staff time has not been calculated into the above costs.
As noted earlier, departments are now provided access to the Council’s minutes through the Town’s network, and departments are no longer provided copies by the Clerk’s Office.
We suggest that the cost of providing paper copies of minutes be reflected on the User Fee Schedule for Council materials. Based on the table above, the average materials and copy cost of producing and mailing minutes each year is $75.70 per person. Because the number of meetings varies each year, as well as the length of the minutes, we suggest an annual fee of $70.00 for minutes mailed to citizens. If citizens elect to pick up the minutes at Town Hall, the annual cost is estimated to be about $32 per person.
We further suggest that the cost of providing paper copies of full Council packets be adjusted to reflect the current average cost of production. Again, using 2001 figures, the cost of production (not including labor costs) of full Council packets is estimated as follows:
52 meetings at an average of 250 pages = 13,000
13,000 x $.0227 per page = $295.10 $295.10
13,000 = 26 reams of paper @ $2.23 = $57.90 57.90
$353.00
If packets are mailed, the average cost is $5.00 per mailing x 12 mailings $ 60.00
$413.00
Currently, one citizen pays an annual fee of $210 to receive full packets.
Please see Attachment I for the current User Fee Schedule for items provided by the Clerk’s Office. The proposed User Fee Schedule that would reflect the current cost for production of materials provided by the Clerk’s Office is provided as Attachment 2.
Other Documents
We will continue to post documents of interest on the Town’s web site. For those citizens who do not have internet access, we will continue to provide information as requested.
ATTACHMENT 1
TOWN COUNCIL AGENDA FEE SCHEDULE
The Town of Chapel Hill produces Town Council agenda packets for interested persons. Depending upon individual preference, materials are either mailed or picked up at the Town Hall.
Fees are set to capture all estimated postage costs and estimated production (paper, unit rental and supplies) costs.
Fee Schedule
AGENDA PACKETS PICKED UP AT TOWN HALL $210 per year
AGENDA PACKETS MAILED $350 per year
One agenda packet will be provided free of charge to area media (print and radio) and governmental jurisdictions.
Agenda face sheets will continue to be provided free of charge. Agenda packets are available for review at the Reference Desk of the Chapel Hill Public Library and at the Town Hall.
ATTACHMENT 2
PROPOSED
TOWN COUNCIL MATERIALS USER FEE SCHEDULE
The Town of Chapel Hill produces Town Council agenda packets for interested persons. Depending upon individual preference, materials are either mailed or picked up at the Town Hall.
Fees are set to capture all estimated postage costs and estimated production (paper, unit rental and supplies) costs.
Fee Schedule
AGENDA PACKETS PICKED UP AT TOWN HALL $353 per year
AGENDA PACKETS MAILED $413 per year
COUNCIL MINUTES PICKED UP AT TOWN HALL $ 32 per year
COUNCIL MINUTES MAILED $ 70 per year
COPY COST PER PAGE 10 cents/page
One agenda packet will be provided free of charge to area media (Chapel Hill Herald, Chapel Hill News, News and Observer, Daily Tar Heel).
Agenda face sheets would continue to be provided free of charge. Agenda packets, including Council meeting minutes, are posted on the Town’s website, and are also available for review at the Reference Desk of the Chapel Hill Public Library and at the Clerk’s Office at Town Hall.