Agenda Management Upgrade Improves Resident Communications in Elbert County
Elbert County
Elbert County, CO
As Elbert County's population grew, so did its expectation for increased communication and collaboration with the county. Previous agenda workflows hindered the Clerk's ability to distribute crucial documents to citizens, so the county implemented a transparent, digital solution.
Topics Covered
Cost
Not available
Funding
General Fund/Existing Public Funds
Project Status
Operational since 2018
Gov Champion
County Clerk
Problem Addressed
Elbert County's agenda management is collaborative, but the county lacked the technology to efficiently include residents.
With a growing population of 25,000, Elbert County sits within an easy commute to Denver. As the population continued to grow, so did resident expectations for collaboration and transparency with their local government. The county needed to an easier way to facilitate collaboration before, during, and after regularly scheduled meetings.
The process to create agendas for meetings in Elbert County is extremely collaborative, making the need for a transparent, and automated digital solution essential in managing staff time more effectively.
County Clerk, Dallas Schroeder, says that they were using an agenda template where people could either contact a commissioner or the county manager if they wanted to add something to the agenda. The team would meet together to go through each item on the agenda. From here, they would create separate templates and notes all in a word document.
The process was entirely manual, taking Schroeder 60 to 90 minutes before each meeting. Even after the meeting, Schroeder still had to create board packets for the commissioners and the public, representing the most time-consuming part.
Solutions Used
Elbert County's new agenda management platform makes county-wide information more accessible, saving staff significant time on agenda-making and distribution.
To streamline agenda management, Elbert County implemented CivicClerk, an automated agenda solution.
CivicClerk has allowed the county to install hard deadlines for agenda items and supporting documents that they lacked the capacity to before. During agenda collaboration meetings, the team has a more thorough agenda to look at, allowing them to spend less time reviewing incomplete action items. They can email follow up items and ensure that key parties are kept updated on what they're missing.
Departments can easily collaborate on agenda-making and management now that county-wide information is available in one centralized platform.
“I love that we can email follow-up tasks directly to content contributors to request documents. If they don’t meet our deadlines, then they know that their item will be bumped to the next meeting,” says Schroeder.
Outcomes
1
Improved communication and collaboration between Elbert County departments from a centralized platform that makes county-wide information more accessible.
2
The Clerk's Office, County Manager, and BOCC representatives spend less time reviewing agendas, as they are more complete upon review.
3
County staff can enforce deadlines that they couldn't before, with the ability to send out emails requesting documentation prior to public meetings.
Who Should Consider
Any clerk or recorder looking to modernize their agenda and meeting management processes.
Government Project Team
- Dallas Schroeder, County Clerk
Last Updated
Apr 27th, 2022More resources about this case study
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