CHICKASHA – City Hall is adding a new module to its computer software that will automate the creation of agendas for City Council meetings, improve the production of meeting minutes, and simplify management of meeting videos.
The updated system will roll out in the first quarter of next year, Shae Mortimer, the city’s marketing and civic engagement director, informed the council.
The proverbial “bottom line” is that the software will enhance the “transparency” of municipal functions and activities for the public.
The city acquired the CivicClerk software in 2019, and the new module will be “an update to what we currently have,” Mortimer said.
For example, City Council members will cast their votes electronically and those votes will be recorded for posterity.
Videos of meetings will be recorded and time coded, which will hasten searches for particular debates or votes. “This should be more user-friendly for citizens,” Mortimer said.
The City of Shawnee has the same software which demonstrates the ease of finding meeting agendas and minutes and videos, public records, the City Code and City Charter, names and telephone numbers of public officials, trash collection and disposal fees and routes, utility billing information, instructions on how to report issues to City Hall, and myriad other tasks.
“Efficiency will be huge,” Mortimer said.
“The biggest bonus will be the time savings” for City Clerk Susan McDaniel and the anticipated reduction in consumption of office paper, Mortimer said.
For example, the agenda packet with supporting documentation for the Nov. 18 City Council meeting totaled 333 pages, the Chickasha Municipal Authority agenda packet totaled 21 pages, and the Municipal Airport Authority agenda packet totaled six pages.
“I’ve had bigger agendas before,” particularly when bid specifications were included, McDaniel told Southwest Ledger.
Altogether, then, for the Nov. 18 meeting, McDaniel printed 360 pages of material on 8.5x11-inch paper for eight City Council members (one downloads the agendas onto an iPad); for five staff members, including the city manager and the city attorney; and one for her permanent records.
Even by printing front-toback, she produced 14 copies at 180 pages each, which consumed 2,520 sheets of paper – five 500-sheet reams.
McDaniel said she orders office paper by the case – 10 reams, 5,000 sheets of paper – three cases at a time “because that’s what my storage space will hold.” That order will last her for a month, “maybe a month and a half, it just depends,” she said.
“I do more copying in my office than all of the other departments combined,” Mc-Daniel said. Her copier “easily pays for itself in a year or so.”
Most of the councilors indicated they are receptive and look forward to the updated, automated system, but Councilman Charlie Burruss said he prefers “to continue with paper” agendas and records.
In a related matter, the City Council awarded a $62,406 contract to Conference Technologies Inc. for audio/video improvements in the council chambers in City Hall.
The project will entail:
• Replacing 15 microphones, including nine on the dais and one at the lectern, and adding five wireless microphones.
• Installing four speakers – two directed at the council and two aimed at the audience – and a power amplifier for the speakers.
• Installing acoustic panels to dampen echoing and sound “bouncing.” The project will include 25 4’x8’ acoustic panels and 25 4’x4’ acoustic panels in the chamber.
• An assisted listening system with four belt pack receivers, for use by up to four individuals.
• A sound system panel featuring a 24-channel rack-mounted mixing board for control of microphones.
• Three pan-tilt-zoom cameras, two mounted behind the council and one installed mid-room above the entrance. These will replace existing cameras and add one for better coverage of the chamber.
The contract includes eight hours of training for city staff and one year of complete service on the system.
Work on the new equipment will start in “about 14 weeks,” Mortimer said on Nov. 18.
Conference Technologies Inc. is based in Missouri but has a representative in Norman, records indicate.