Lake Elsinore Goes Paperless

Lake Elsinore is going high tech.

During their regularly scheduled meeting Jan. 10, City Council members voted 4-1 to approve the purchase of iPads for themselves and staff.

Mayor Brian Tisdale was the dissenting vote, arguing that while he uses an iPad himself and finds it an invaluable tool, it is a “personal device” that staff and elected officials can budget for if they choose.

“Everyone in these chairs can probably afford it,” he said, pointing to staff and council members.

The Jan. 10 vote approves the purchase of 17 iPads at a total cost of $16,280 plus connection fees.

Training on how to use the devices will be provided to city staff and elected officials.

According to city documents, the move to paperless will save approximately 5.8 trees a year, or more than $8,000 in paper costs to the city annually. Given that figure, cost savings to the city will begin to be realized after two years, according to city staff documents.

Currently, City Council members and staff are provided with an agenda package of printed documents for every City Council meeting.

“The City Clerk’s office produces 17 paper copies of the City Council Agenda packets to City Council and City Executive staff per meeting 24 +/- times per year,” according to city staff documents. “On average, the City prints approximately 50,000 A4 pages per annum, which equates to 100 reams of white paper.”