The Post

Council to trial ipad benefits

- Bronwyn Torrie and Paul Easton

PORIRUA councillor­s have been given ipads in a bid to bring the council into the 21st century and save costs on printing.

Nine councillor­s and the mayor received a wi-fi model ipad 2 this month, at a cost of $700 plus GST each.

Two councillor­s already have personal ipads and agreed to use them for council duties.

Mayor Nick Leggett said councillor­s trialling the technology would either buy them or have the cost deducted from their remunerati­on package.

An online portal has been developed so councillor­s can access official documents that would otherwise be printed out and delivered to their mailbox.

‘‘It’s about stepping into the 21st century. Councils by their nature tend to be quite staid and traditiona­l in a lot of ways and I suppose this is just us taking a step using technology to make our jobs easier and a little more efficient.’’

He expected ‘‘significan­t savings’’ on printing costs over time.

‘‘We need to test if it’s something that works and my view is that it will because there are other councils that use them and have been for a while.’’

Cash for the trial came out of

the council’s capital IT replacemen­t budget.

Eastern councillor Denys Latham said he had his trial ipad at home, and was open to giving it a go.

‘‘But I need to work out how to turn it on first.’’

Councillor Ken Douglas said he had not taken up the offer because he hoped to get one through another source, and wanted to save the council unnecessar­y costs.

First-term councillor ’ Ana Coffey has been driving the shift to a paperless council.

Every week she receives a package of paper about 10cm thick and more when large documents are sent.

‘‘I guess I’m a bit of an enthusiast when it comes to technology but only to the point that if it helps, it’s not just to have the latest toy, it needs to be usable.’’

Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace said he was trialling an ipad, with five coun- cillors set to follow. ‘‘We burn a forest for every meeting.’’

Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy said his council had no plans to trial ipads.

A Greater Wellington regional council spokesman said three were being trialled by council officers, with plans for five more. No councillor­s were testing them.

Marlboroug­h District councillor­s using ipads made an on-the-spot decision at a resource consent hearing last week, as they could quickly find the informatio­n they needed.

Meanwhile, Porirua City Council is considerin­g dropping three councillor­s at the next election in 2013, meaning the northern and eastern wards would each have four, while the western ward would have two.

The proposal coincides with Ranui becoming a recognised suburb, which will be absorbed by the eastern ward.

 ?? Photo: CHRIS SKELTON/FAIRFAX NZ ?? Trial for ipad: Porirua councillor ’Ana Coffey with her new ipad.
Photo: CHRIS SKELTON/FAIRFAX NZ Trial for ipad: Porirua councillor ’Ana Coffey with her new ipad.

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