For some Powell River Regional District directors, the venerable iPad is not the apple of their eye, even though tablets have evolved greatly since the time of Moses.
At a recent committee of the whole meeting, Brenda Paquin, manager of administrative services, introduced a draft electronic device policy for the committee’s consideration. She said there is an opportunity, going into a new term, to have a policy in place and to move away from all the paper on the board table.
Stan Gisborne, Electoral Area B director, asked if, in the new term, agendas would still be printed.
“We are hoping to move away from that,” Paquin said.
Gisborne said he was having trouble with his iPad. He said it doesn’t get email sometimes, and that he has difficulty using it.
Paquin said that regional district staff was looking at other products on the market.
Colin Palmer, Electoral Area C director and board chair at the time, said he likes to have the ability to write notes on the agendas. Paquin said there are systems in place that provide the ability for notation on electronic devices.
“Unfortunately, the current printer we are using does not support our scanning feature to be able to do that,” she said. “We have budgeted a new printer/copier. Once we get it, the scanning will allow markups on the agenda.”
Merrick Anderson, Electoral Area E director, asked if there was an issue with the Apple device because Apple “seems to have a way of insisting that everything be done the Apple way.”
Paquin said that is why they were looking at other products. Gisborne agreed other devices should be tested to see if they work in the regional board environment.
The committee voted unanimously to recommend that the regional board adopt the electronic device purchase policy, which would provide for purchase of a device for regional directors at the start of each electoral term. If passed, the regional directors will be issued electronic devices to access email and agendas for meetings. The intention is to reduce staff time and paper costs in printing large agendas. Agendas can be any length from up to 100 to over 400 pages.
