City Council Workshop or Special Called Meeting

CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY - FEBRUARY 8, 2023 - 5:30 PM Notice of AGENDA City Council Chamber/Municipal Courtroom 2801 Ranch Road 1869 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 Angela Jones Crystal Mancilla Amanda L Young Will Crossland Chris Pezold Liz Branigan LIVE VIDEO ACCESS AND RECORDINGS The live video link will be on the City's Facebook page. Following the meeting, the link for the live meeting will be removed. The recording of the meeting will be placed on the City's webpage: www.libertyhilltx.gov PLEASE SILENCE YOUR CELL PHONES 1) CALL TO ORDER AND ESTABLISH QUORUM 2) REGULAR AGENDA a) Presentation from Bill Gunz, Information Technology (IT) Technician and Elaine Simpson, City Secretary, regarding city paperless agenda project. Granicus Peak iLegislate Powerpoint Gunz / Simpson 3) ADJOURNMENT 1 The City Council, Boards, and Commissions reserve the right to reconvene, recess, realign, change the order of business, or adjourn into Execu ve Session at any me during the course of the mee ng, prior to adjournment, to discuss any item listed above, as authorized by Texas Government Code Sec on §551.071 (Consulta on with A orney), §551.072 (Delibera ons about Real Property), §551.073 (Delibera ons about Gi s and Dona ons), §551.074 (Personnel Ma ers), §551.076 (Delibera ons about Security Devices), and §551.087 (Development). In compliance with the Americans with Disabili es Act, the City of Liberty Hill will provide reasonable accommoda on for persons a ending mee ngs. To be er serve you, requests need to be received 48 hours prior to the meeting. Contact the City Secretary at 512-778-5449 – Extension 125. POSTING CERTIFICATION: I, ELAINE SIMPSON – CITY SECRETARY – CITY OF LIBERTY HILL certify that the attached notice of meeting was duly posted on the bulletin board at City Hall located at 926 Loop 332, Liberty Hill, Texas 78642 and on the City website (www.libertyhilltx.gov) on the ______ day of ____________________, 202_ at ______. Elaine Simpson – City Secretary. REMOVAL CERTIFICATION: I ELAINE SIMPSON – CITY SECRETARY – CITY OF LIBERTY HILL certify that the attached notice of meeting was removed from the bulletin board at City Hall located at 926 Loop 332, Liberty Hill, Texas 78642 on the ______ day of __________________, 202_ at _______. INITIALS _______ 2  CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY - FEBRUARY 8, 2023 2801 Ranch Road 1869 - Liberty Hill AGENDA ITEM 2.a Presentation from Bill Gunz, Information Technology (IT) Technician and Elaine Simpson, City Secretary, regarding city paperless agenda project. 3 PAPERLESS AGENDAS USING GRANICUS SOFTWARE 4  IN BRIEF • Definition/Introductions • Benefits of Going Paperless • City Council Role and Expectations • Software / Hardware • iLegislate Viewer • Proposed Project Timeline(s) • Staff Training • City Council Training 5  DEFINITION Granicus is the publisher of the paperless agenda software that we will use. In 2020, the City Council approved then City Secretary Nancy Sawyer to institute composing agendas in this agenda management software. Peak – is the name of the Granicus software module that city staff uses to compose the agenda. City staff department heads are (or will be) trained to submit their own agenda items directly into the system. At this time, Rebecca Harness; Executive Assistant to the City Manager, Elaine Simpson; City Secretary, and Jerry Millard; Director of Planning and Development, create agendas/agenda items in Peak. iLegislate – is the name of the VIEWER software that City Council will use to view agendas. iLegislate is just a viewer, and City Council members will not be able to alter or erase anything on the master agenda. 6  ELIMINATING PAPER VIA AUTOMATION • The Goal of going to a paperless agenda was originally proposed before 2020. The Granicus product - Peak Agenda software - has been marketed to smaller cities for several years. It is less robust than some other more established software programs but is also less complicated and less expensive. Liberty Hills purchased the Granicus brand products for both agenda management and the recording of the meeting videos (a module called MediaManager). • Currently, the city staff members produce the agenda in the Peak software, but then print out the agenda on paper and provide to the City Council and senior staff in 3-ring binders. The average size of these paper notebook agenda packets is more than 200 pages. Although printed 2-sided on the city’s copier, the paper usage is still significant and the cost is high for paper, copier costs, and staff time to collate and distribute these agenda notebook binders. (about 3 hours of staff time per agenda) • Approximately 4 months ago, City Administrator Brandenburg directed the elimination of notebook binder delivery (thus saving approximately an hour of time per agenda) relieving the Police Department from this task. He also directed the City Secretary and IT Technician to implement the transition of the City Council from paper to cloud-based digital agendas. 7  CITY COUNCIL ROLE • Software: The City Council will work exclusively in iLegislate, the viewer. The City Council Members will have no ability to alter the agenda, but will have the ability to view a copy of it, and to make their own notes on their copy. City staff will create iLegislate ‘sign on’ names and passwords and these will be shared with the City Council Members, respectively. Training on using the iLegislate viewer is straightforward and can usually be accomplished in about 30 minutes. The City Council passwords will provide permissions for them to view documents that the city staff input into Peak as ‘confidential’. These confidential documents will not be viewable for the public. The version of the agenda packet that will be placed on the city website will have no confidential documents. • Hardware: City staff, purchasing through our technology purchasing contracts and in coordination with Kelly Wenzel; Purchasing Coordinator, will purchase for each City Council member an iPad, cover and any needed additional chargers or accessories. This is in the current budget as approved by City Council. 8  TIMELINES • Currently the time line for the ordering, delivery and set up of the iPads is 30 to 60 days depending on supply from vendors. • Currently the schedule for set up for iLegislate viewer for City Council is within 30 of receipt of any needed equipment. • Currently the schedule for set up and training for city senior staff on the Peak software is 60 days after initial setup of the iLegislate viewer for the City Council. 9  ANTICIPATED ISSUES • With any new computer program adoption, there is concern about hesitancy of the users with the new computer program. Additionally, with the software and hardware being introduced together, there is always a possibility that some may feel slightly overwhelmed. To address these concerns and try to put everyone at ease: • iPads were chosen for the hardware since it is a common tablet that many are familiar with. Also, it is easy to increase size of text, making it easier to deal with unusual size items such as maps. • City Council is encouraged to view the paperless agendas that are posted at this time on the city website, in order to grow more comfortable seeing the agenda in electronic format. • City Council is encouraged to approach IT Technician Gunz and City Secretary Simpson with all questions at any time. • City Council will be able to take training on the new iPads as soon as they arrive, either as a group, or one- on-one, as each individual City Council Member desires. • Wi-Fi issues at the Courtroom/City Council Chamber may potentially slow down progress. IT Technician Gunz will work to assure internet is reliable by or before mid May. 10  BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS This project was budgeted as a supplement from Administration (City Secretary) in the current budget. There will be no increase in cost of software (since the City is already using the software to compose all the agendas for all the City Boards and Committees). The cost of the annual license for the Granicus software is currently $ 8,496.75. The license includes all the components of the paperless agenda (i.e.; Peak, iLegislate, MediaManager) . The estimated cost of new iPads is about $2,000 each, fully loaded. The FirstNet Internet unlimited data (AT&T) plan will be a $30 monthly charge per iPad. The iPads will be placed on the standardized technology replacement schedule with all other city technology equipment / CIP. 11  CITY COUNCIL TRAINING / STAFF TRAINING City Council Training will be significantly less involved because the iLegislate viewer is a simple program with limited number of pages, features, etc. Staff Training on the Peak Agenda will be scheduled so that those to be trained first will be those who submit the highest number of agenda items (new Executive Director of Liberty Hill Economic Development Corporation, for example) or Department Heads who are staff support for a Board or Committee (such as Communications Director Katie Amsler and Park Coordinator Jamie Higuera, who support the Parks Advisory Board). When staff members are granted a login and password, the City Secretary will determine the appropriate level of permissions for that employee to have within the Peak software. This assures that a staff member only creates and affects change to agendas for their department and/or Committee. 12 ANY QUESTIONS? 13