Thursday, February 12, 2015
County Commission Utilizes Technology To Save Taxpayer Dollars
In a move that will save taxpayers several thousand dollars over the course of four years, the Lawrence County Commission is going paperless. Instead of utilizing paper, ink and postage for meeting notices, agendas, resolution packets and other official documents for commissioners, iPad tablets will now be used to conduct county business.
Commissioner Chris Jackson, who chairs the county's Technology Committee, said the move to iPads is a common sense move. "Each year, county government spends thousands of taxpayer dollars needlessly on paperwork, postage, ink and man hours just to announce meetings, mail agendas and print other documents for commissioners. With so much technology at our disposal, we wanted to see how we could cut our costs while at the same time make our board more efficient," Jackson said.
Jeff Hughes, a commissioner who also is a certified government financial manager, thinks the move is smart financial decision for the county. "Several months ago, our committee conducted a financial impact study and found that we save thousands of dollars over the course of our term by purchasing iPads and embracing technologies like email, the cloud and other programs rather than traditional print and postage," Hughes said. "
"Just because we have always done something a certain way, doesn't mean it is the best way," said Commissioner Wayne Yocom, a 20 year veteran of the county commission. "Anytime we can find ways to save money and improve operations, I will be for it," he added.
County officials say the iPads will remain county property at the end of the current term and will be deemed surplus and auctioned off to return even more savings back to the county. The "paperless" program is the latest effort by county government to cut costs and make government more efficient by utilizing technology.
Two years ago, commissioners voted to revamp the county's official website so citizens could conduct more county business online and visitors could easily get the information they need about Lawrence County.
The county has also recently opened official Facebook and Twitter pages to keep citizens updated on issues within county government. They encourage all citizens to follow both pages and become active participants in county business.
