Paperless Meetings are the Wave of the Future

New Jersey communities are using Laserfiche to eliminate paper and put more information in the hands of decision makers at public government meetings

The versatility of electronic document management software technology has inspired creative applications that have taken the paper out of countless government agencies and operations over the past 20 years. Now it’s reaching outside the office into that bastion of paper rustling, public government meetings.

Armed with laptops, compact discs and/or internet access, elected officials are working from electronic agendas that run the meetings that run local government. The technology eliminates mountains of paper, helps with organizing those meetings and—perhaps most important—puts much more information into the hands of the decisions makers as they make those decisions.

The Ramsey clerk’s office started scanning and storing meeting minutes and other paperwork into a document management database in January. Ramsey Councilman Arthur Nalbandian heard that other New Jersey communities were using document images software to help run their municipal meetings, and suggested it might work in Ramsey.

“Our council is receiving it very well,” Bendian says. “It enables us to link to every document that has to do with whatever agenda item we’re working on. We put it all in there together with the agenda.”

Bendian builds the electronic agenda by scanning all the upcoming meeting business into document management solutions, including agenda items requested by the various department heads and any internal supporting documentation those department heads may have submitted for those items. Public communications to the mayor and council are also scanned in.

While the use of document management for paperless meetings is an extremely useful innovation, the benefits of Laserfiche can go much further, according to Greg Hart, Borough Administrator for nearby Franklin Lakes. Hart is a strong proponent of paperless meeting technology and has given demonstrations on the subject before the Municipal Clerks’ Association of New Jersey.

“There is significant investment but the pay off is so much more than the input,” Hart says. “For us it was very user friendly, and the mayor and council adjusted very quickly. The important thing is that nobody is shuffling papers any more.”

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