University Place City Officials Get Microsoft Tablets Through Green Initiative

To help the City of University Place go green, significant investments have been made to curb paper waste at City Hall. City council members, the city clerk and University Place executive staff now have their very own Microsoft Surface tablets, a $14,000 investment in new technology.

Six members of the executive staff received the Microsoft Surface Pro, which retails at $1,000 each. The seven members of the city council and city clerk each got a Surface RT, which costs $500 each. The city’s IT department also has one of each type. All 16 tablets have their own external keyboards, valued at $130 each. The tablets were paid for through the IT department’s budget.

Giving city officials their packets electronically will save UP a significant amount of money in paper costs and staff time, said Linda Seesz,  communications director for the City of University Place. “With this initiative, it was really an analysis of savings versus cost... And we’ll be able to recoup our costs fairly quickly.”

The average UP council packet has 80 pages and 16 recipients. Each packet must be individually assembled by the City Clerk, sent to print and handed to every member of the city council and executive to study before their meeting. After the meeting, the Clerk collected all the packets and recycled them.

Seesz estimates that electronic packets will save the city approximately $3,000 per year in delivery costs and $4,000 per year in printing, not counting staff time, which amounts to over 50 hours per month.

"With the amount of copying that goes on, it takes up the copier for the whole afternoon," said Seesz. 

The Microsoft product was chosen over iPad or other brands mainly because the city is already on a Microsoft network. The executive staff got the advanced PRO Surface model because they “needed different things” than the city council, said Steez.

“It’s important to connect them to the city’s network here,” said Seesz. “The council doesn’t need to connect to the network.”

The tablets connect to wifi, but the city is not paying for 3G or other internet services.

The tablets fall under University Place’s IT policy and a certain amount of personal use—and maybe even some fun—is expected.

“We want [city officials] to have their tablets on them at all times and encourage them to take them home,” said Seesz.