Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski Shawano County Supervisor Sandy Steinke demonstrates the capabilities of her iPad for the County Board during its meeting Wednesday. Steinke, who also serves on the Shawano Common Council, told the board how helpful her tablet has been in organizing her information on city meetings and policies.
Shawano County might follow in the footsteps of the city of Shawano and provide iPads for county supervisors to receive agendas, background information on resolutions and more.
The County Board held an unscheduled discussion on the issue this week, but took no action.
The county finance committee has discussed laptops several times in the past few months, but wanted to get the pulse of board members before proceeding with a purchase that could cost $500 to $600 per board member, or about $13,000 to $15,000 overall.
County Board Chairman Jerry Erdmann, a member of the finance committee, said there is no timetable for approving the measure, and supervisors would have the option to either receive an iPad or continue getting printed packets for board meetings.
“It’s been something that has been asked (by county supervisors), and we’re bringing it forward,” Erdmann said.
The city of Shawano started providing iPads to the mayor and Common Council members in 2011 at the recommendation of then-City Administrator Michael Hall as a way to reduce paper usage.
Supervisor Sandy Steinke, who is a Shawano alderwoman, showed the County Board on Wednesday how it could be used to not only keep up on information, but also to review actions taken several years ago.
“I still have the same iPad (from 2011). The program has been updated once, but it’s a basic iPad,” Steinke said as she held up her iPad. “I can get emails. I can get council information automatically without getting an agenda through the mail.”
Steinke said iPads are easy to use and reduce the time city staff needs to spend calling council members to schedule meetings. She said she can simply reply to requests by email at her leisure.
“My packet for this County Board meeting was $4 (to be mailed),” Steinke said. “Just think, if we had one of these, how much it would save in cost.”
With supervisors serving on three or four committees and boards, the annual costs for mailing packets can easily exceed $200 per supervisor.
Sending packets digitally can also save supervisors time. The County Board agenda usually has to be finalized a week in advance to allow sufficient time for supervisors to receive the packets and to digest the information prior to debate, but iPads could allow supervisors to get that information immediately with the push of a button, according to Steinke.
Corporation Counsel Tony Kordus reminded supervisors they could not use iPads to send messages to multiple supervisors, which would create walking quorums and violate the state open meeting law.
Kordus noted that having county-owned iPads would also protect supervisors’ privacy in the event of any open records requests. If someone wanted to request supervisors’ emails and other electronic communications, the information could come from the iPads and not a supervisor’s home computer.
“This is a public document,” Steinke said of her city iPad. “This is open to public review. Anybody wants to get it, they can, and they can go through my emails.”
Supervisor Richard Ferfecki said he has found his own iPad useful when he attends human services board meetings, but sometimes has difficulty finding dependable WiFi.
“Instead of fumbling through papers, you can go from one area of what you’re discussing to the next, and it really is a good tool,” Ferfecki said.
Supervisor Arlyn Tober, finance committee chairman, said he was initially skeptical of iPads, but he said he was sold after seeing a demonstration by the board chairman of Wood County.
“What really sold me is that he would be at a meeting and then a resolution from two or three years ago (would come up) and you could automatically bring that resolution up,” Tober said. “Everything is up to date.”