AGENDA #6a

BUDGET WORKING PAPER

TO:                  W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

FROM:            Joyce A. Smith, Town Clerk

SUBJECT:       Council Agenda Materials Provided at Alternate Sites

DATE:             May 15, 2002

At the Council’s April 3, 2002 Budget Work Session, a Council member inquired about the possibility of providing Council agenda materials at community centers or other alternate sites.  The Council member expressed interest in providing the materials to those who may not have access to computer terminals, or who may not have the expertise necessary to operate the equipment.

Agenda materials are available in hard copy form in the Clerk’s Office and at the Reference Desk of the Chapel Hill Public Library.  There are also public computer terminals located at the Library, where citizens may access the Internet.  In early March, we began posting the entire agenda packet for each meeting, including attachments, on the Town’s website.

Five sites were identified as possible sites for placement of hard copies of agenda materials:  Community Center, Hargraves Center, Skills Development Center, Southern Human Services Center, and Chapel Hill Senior Center.  To determine the cost of providing hard copies of agenda materials at these five sites, we calculated the actual costs of materials (paper and copy costs), staff preparation time, and delivery costs, based on an average of 54 Council packets per year.

	Cost per page	Avg. # of pages	Cost per copy	# of copies	Avg. Cost per 5 copies
Paper Cost	$0.0045	337	$1.50	5	$7.50
Copy Cost	$0.0266	337	$9.00	5	$45.00
			Time	Hourly Rate	Avg. Cost per 5 copies	Avg. Annual # of Packets	Avg. Annual Cost
*Collating Time			0.5	$70.00	$35.00
**Copying Time			2.5	$13.00	$32.50
Delivery					$25.00
TOTAL					$145.00	54	$7,830

    *Collating time represents the average time to collate five packets, with 4 staff.  Three staff persons perform collating, with the 4th staff person checking for accuracy and binding the materials.  We estimate this function requires 5-7 minutes per packet.

  **Copying time represents the additional time to copy five packets, with 1 staff.  For an average packet of 337 pages, copying time was estimated to be 1 ½ hours, with an additional 1 hour included for preparation time (copier oversight, preparing items for collating, checking for accuracy).

The cost to prepare 5 additional agenda packets for each meeting averages $145.00, with an average annual cost of $7,830 ($29.00 per copy).

If materials were prepared on Wednesday evenings, an additional cost would need to be included to cover overtime for 3 staff.

No funds are available at this time to provide hard copies of agenda and other materials at the various locations.  If the Council wishes to begin this process, it would be necessary to provide the funds to do so.