Council buys iPads

SOUTH PORTLAND — South Portland City Councilors will no longer get large information packets hand-delivered to their homes by local police officers.

Instead, councilors will now get all the data they need for meetings downloaded directly to Apple iPads they’ve agreed to buy for themselves, at a cost of $6,503. The council voted 6-1 to buy the iPads, with only Alan Livingston opposed.

The idea was first proposed by City Manager James Gailey at an Aug. 1 workshop session as a way to “go paperless.” Although information packets for each council meeting are posted online for the public and the press, city councilors still got their versions the old-fashioned way.

Town Clerk Susan Mooney estimated that her office runs “two reams of paper” though one of two high-tech photocopiers every other week to keep councilors up to speed on city business.

Not counting labor from staffers and special delivery by police, taxpayers shell out $2,316 per year on councilor education. Over the expected three-year life span of an iPad, said Gailey, the cost of paper, toner and photocopier amortization comes to $6,948.

By contrast, the seven 16 gigabyte iPads councilors agreed to purchase at $629 each, added to $25-per-month, one-year 3G wireless data plans for each machine (at a total cost of $2,100 per year), will cost $6,503.

“That’s not much of a savings up front,” said Councilor Tom Coward, “but I’m convinced that as we find additional uses for these things, we’ll discover other savings.”

However, when Coward joked that those “other uses” might include playing Angry Birds, and other games, Gailey was quick to jump in.

“It should be mentioned that any apps you purchase will be on your credit card,” he warned.

However, while nobody objected to bearing the burden of putting the new iPads to use beyond viewing official city documents, Councilor Tom Blake objected to one other out-of-pocket cost.

An iPad use policy drafted by city attorney Sally Daggett put the replacement cost for lost or stolen devices squarely on councilors. Blake offered an amendment, leaving the amount to be paid by councilors, if any, to the discretion of her or her peers.

“I think it’s unreasonable under any situation to make us fully responsible for the cost of that item,” said Blake. “We could be having a meeting and take a break and, when I come back to my desk, my iPad could be gone.”

“I think we can decide this on a case-by-case basis,” agreed Coward. “I mean, there’s only seven of us, how many cases can there be?”

The amendment passed 6-1. Councilor James Hughes opposed Blake’s motion, without comment.

However, Councilor Alan Livingston did raise concern about the purchase, although he claimed to have “no problem” with moving to some form of electronic distribution for council packets.

“Technology is changing so quickly, I just wonder if, six months from now, there might be something better that we could get,” he said.

Mayor Rosemarie De Angelis said any city councilor may, at his or her own initiative, “save the city some money” by opting out of the 3G iPad, choosing instead a cheaper Wi-Fi-only version.

Still, enough money was allocated from undesignated surplus to cover the cost of high-end machines, should all councilors choose to go that route. 

In his position paper to the council, Gailey said money for data plans and new iPads will be part of general fund budgets in the future.

The use policy adopted by the City Council says that each member is “responsible for the general care” of any iPad issued, and that the machine must be returned to the city at the end of his or her term of office.  Councilors are banned from using the iPads to message each other during meetings. While the city will provide a protective case, and other peripherals, such as a stylus or wireless keyboard, “shall be [purchased] at an individual City Councilor’s own expense.”

 The policy also explicitly states that “all documents, files and email messages created, received, stored in, or sent from” the iPads are “public records subject to disclosure pursuant to the Maine Freedom of Access Act (with only limited exceptions).”