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NEW CANAAN, Conn. With all the paperwork they have to take to meetings, town officials are looking into reducing that clutter by giving tablet computers to three town boards.
The towns information technology department got the go-ahead Tuesday from the Board of Selectmen to spend $20,000 on 30 iPads for use by the selectmen as well as the members of the Town Council and the Board of Finance. Funding for the iPads and wireless keyboards was included in the towns 2011-12 budget.
First Selectman Jeb Walker said he has been a major proponent of getting the iPads to save the town the time and expense of printing so many documents. Walker referenced the heft of paperwork from town council budget workshops and a 36-page presentation made by the towns Senior Housing and Health Care Committee as part of the reason to purchase the iPads.
This will put New Canaan town government into the 21st century, Walker said. Board of Finance members were expected to receive a presentation during their meeting Tuesday evening.
Information Technology Director Chris Kaiser said one iPad will be given to each member of the three boards, including alternates on the Board of Finance. Two will be given to the towns finance office for presentations and two will be used as backups.
All of the documents that can be shared on the iPads will also be available on the towns website, Walker said.
Recipients of the iPads will have access to town documents, their town email addresses and all the applications that are on the machines, Walker said. They will not be able to use them to access the Internet or personal email accounts and will not be able to download new applications. They will also have to return them when their time in office is over. We are not giving them a toy, he said.
Kaiser said the machines will likely be given out after the Nov. 8 election.
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