Hanover Borough Council goes paperless

Barb Krebs was brought to the Hanover Borough Council in 2011 with three goals – launch a website, develop a newsletter and make council meetings paperless. And three years later, the borough manager will the entire council with tablets by August, her threefold agenda met. 

"We looked at what was the most important and we decided that was the newsletter, for people who didn't have a computer, and then the website, for people who did," Krebs told The Evening Sun. "We held off purchasing the tablets because budget wise we couldn't do everything at once."

Though the tablets cost $630 each, Krebs expects to save between $10,000 and $15,000 a year with the decision to go paperless. With large piles of files to go over in their up-to-six meetings per week the council will likely streamline operations with digitized document management software as opposed to traditional paper filing. Council member Gerry Funke had previously floated printing on both sides as an idea – at times members can receive 70 pages each – but wear and tear on the machinery was enough to deem the plan insufficient. 

Additionally, the tablets can connect with recently installed television screens. These will project the agenda, presentations and a monthly video report to the public.