Who needs paper? City agenda now online

Occasionally, the city of Watertown gets a bad beat for being, well, technophobic. Officers hand write tickets and police reports, none of the departments accept credit cards and the city rarely updates the “press releases” portion of its Web site.

City staff is, however, taking a big step towards the 21st century this week.

The Times broke a story Tuesday stating the city will discontinue printing its often hefty City Council agendas and instead, publish the resolutions and supporting documents on, gasp, the Internet. The next City Council agenda has been posted already.

The move will save the city a few dollars in materials and labor. You can still check here Friday mornings for council updates, or if you’re so inclined, gander at the agendas on the city’s Web site.

For anyone keeping track at home, the Nov. 2 agenda is 97 pages long, roughly the length of a Verizon Canton Area phone book.

If you have any suggestions where the city can improve its services by updating the technology it uses, contact me or the city’s Information Technology department. Ask for Pete; he’s the city’s IT manager.