Walters blogged that the photo represents about 12 months worth of unnecessary paper during his first year on the Council, "my attempts to reject it notwithstanding." He said, in his blog, that most of the paper he receives at Council goes unread by him because almost everything in Council packets is available on the City's Web site.
He says, "First, using only the online packet would ensure that the public has access to everything that council members have. If we receive an item on paper, then we can’t be sure the public has it as well."
He's right that not all documents available to Council members are available to the public at the same time. Frequently, a city staffer will distribute new documents to the Council just before, or even during, Council meetings. When a reporter asks, many times those documents aren't available to the public during or after the meeting.
Walters also makes the point that using only online documents would dramatically reduce staff time associated with preparing agenda items for the Council. "As a staff member for another local government, I know that printing and copying paper documents is an unexpectedly-significant time suck."
Plus, Walters adds, "using only the online packet reduces resource costs."
Walters promises to work harder to expand and improve electronic access to city records. "We can do better."