City of Maricopa, AZ

Saving paper and promoting cost-efficiency with iLegislate

Case Studies  >  City of Maricopa

Overview

Maricopa City Council is always striving to stay on the cutting-edge of technology. As one of the fastest growing cities in the country, technology innovation is an important part of the environmental, economic, and social sustainability strategies. Recently, the city launched an initiative to reduce paper waste and increase cost-efficiency in their legislative process by harnessing the use of iPads and a new application called Granicus iLegislate.

Instead of continuing to consume large amounts of paper and staff time each month printing and compiling agenda packets for their council meetings, Maricopa City Council and the Clerk’s Office decided to forge a paperless future. This effort is expected to save the city over $4,000 annually in printing costs and staff time.

Maricopa's Success with iLegisltae

Over the past decade, Maricopa’s population experienced 4,000% growth. City Council has had to quickly adapt and respond to the changing needs of its community as well as handle the pressures of a booming and then recessive economy. Throughout this time, they have remained focused on smart growth and building sustainability through their “Think Green” and cost-saving initiatives.

When the realized they were spending over $4,000 per year producing paper-based council meeting agendas which required 16 hours of staff time to print and bind hundreds of pages into packets twice a month, council seized the opportunity to make their legislative process more eco-friendly and cost-efficient.

They quickly determined that replacing paper with iPads for each of their six council members could help them reduce paper waste and printing costs.

“We have a very innovative, forward-thinking council. This was just another way for them to use technology to make government more efficient and to reduce costs to the city,” said Latricia Woods, Public Information Officer for the City of Maricopa.

At first, council accessed digital agendas on the iPad from a web browser, however, their work was frequently disrupted by slow network connections. “Once iLegislate became available it changed everything. Now, it’s quick and easy to access agendas, add notes, and download staff reports electronically,” said Council Member Carl Diedrich.

“Overall it’s improved my efficiency during council meetings. I no longer have to bring my paper notes. I load them into iLegislate and they are easy to reference, all organized by agenda item,” Diedrich added.

Since Maricopa was already using Granius technology to increase legislative transparency and efficiency through online video of their council meetings and digital public records, adding iLegislate was a simple process.

After introducing iLegislate, the benefits of migrating to iPads increased significantly. Maricopa was able to eliminate paper and increase the usability of their council agendas. With iLegislate, users don’t have to worry about data or productivity loss if they lose internet access. The app can be used offline and syncs automatically to the Granicus cloud. Other popular features include the ability to bookmark noteworthy agenda items, view extended agenda item details, email notes, and reference previous meeting videos and agenda notes. Also, iLegislate connects to Granicus’ agenda management software to provide clerk staff with even more tools to track and manage an entirely paperless legislative process.

“It’s improved efficiency in preparing for meetings, it’s easy to travel with, and you can conveniently review and take notes on agenda packet materials from home,” saie Ruben Garcia, Media Specialist for the City of Maricopa.

To date, Maricopa has a total of 15 users on iLegislate including all council members, the mayor, and directors and managers across various departments. “iLegislate directly supporst the city’s green initiatives. We’ve been able to go 100% paperless in our council meetings,” added Garcia. Since going live with iLegislate, the Clerk’s Office no longer has to spend countless hours printing and compiling agenda packets. Also, Maricopa’s switch to the iPad and iLegislate is expected to save them nearly 200 staff hours and over $4,000 annually in paper and staff time.

Easily review paperless agenda packet materials.