Berwyn City Council meetings could soon be ushered into the technological age if a laptop proposal by Alderman Michele Skryd, 5th Ward, meets council approval.

Skryd has proposed buying laptops for each of the city’s eight alderman. Not only would it help the city’s efforts at going green, she said, but it could save some cash as well.

“The money that we would save for the ink and the paper alone would be well worth it,” Skryd said.

An average of 1,000 pages are scanned before each City Council meeting to create each council member’s hefty agenda packets, according to the city’s IT director, James Frank. If Skryd’s proposal moves forward, the city clerk’s office would scan each document and put the files onto individual flash drives for the alderman.

The clerk’s office already scans most council documents to make them available for online viewing.

“I just think it would be so much easier for the clerk’s office as well,” Skryd said. “It just doesn’t make any sense to spend that kind of money.”

City Clerk Tom Pavlik said two of his staff members regularly spend two hours each preparing the documents for City Council meetings. Pavlik has also asked the city to create a system where alderman could electronically file agenda items, improving the archiving system and posting Web podcasts.

“Those are the long range plans,” Pavlik said. “We’re a little ways away from that.”

Aldermen were set to discuss the proposal at the council’s Tuesday, June 23, meeting, the results of which were not available as of press time. If council members agree to the plan, the proposal could come before the City Council for final approval at its July 14 meeting.

Frank said the move would cost just under $600 for each alderman’s Dell laptop. Under Skryd’s proposal, aldermen would pay for the laptops out of their individual annual stipend of $4,500.
Skryd said the city’s IT Department would also install programs allowing the alderman to make notes, changes or comments onto the documents.

Although the proposal would translate into a cost and environmental savings, Frank said there are some potential drawbacks. The council may choose to not have the laptops linked together in a network to ensure there are no accidental violations of open meetings laws, he said. Studies have also shown retention rates decline when material is read on a computer.

“That’s one of the things they’ll be discussing (Tuesday),” Frank said. “Are we gaining more (from getting the laptops) or are we losing more from the reduction in retention? Technology will only take you so far.”