Councilman: 'Green' Legislation Could Save Stow Thousands

Stow Councilman Mike Rasor wants to save the city money while improving government transparency via new legislation proposed this week.

Rasor introduced his legislation, the Transparency and Green Savings Act, Monday in an effort to streamline city council operations by going completely paperless.

"A lot of the information we use comes in paper form in our mailboxes," Rasor said. "And the residents have no way of getting that information to make sure we’re doing our jobs right."

Rasor's legislation would do several things, including eliminating all that paper and replacing it with electronic tablet devices that would be stored at city hall and used by council, the planning commission and other boards during meetings to review legislation, memos and other documents.

The full legislation is attached to this article as a .pdf file.

Rasor said that move alone, according to a 2003 study conducted by the city, would save Stow $6,200 per year in paper and ink expenses.

The online portal that would make the documents available for council members also would be accessible by residents.

Rasor said often the draft legislation council reviews includes attachments, such as memos from city administrators, and all of those documents are not readily available to the public.

He envisions adding other extra information, such as mailed or electronic correspondence from residents, to the portal.

Lastly, the legislation would cut the office supply budget of council and every city department by 10 percent for five years — a move Rasor estimates could save $100,000 in that five-year period.

Stow council reviewed Rasor's proposed legislation Monday, but because two members were absent council decided to leave the issue in committee for further review next month.

At the earliest, the proposed legislation could see a final vote in April. The paperless policies would not take effect until January 2014.

Rasor said so far the response from his council colleagues and Stow residents has been all positive.

"This is a big step in how the city council operates," he said.