The City of Armadale said it had no plans to provide digital tablets for use by its councillors despite having printed more than 50,000 pages of agendas in the past 12 months.
Since August 2016 the City of Armadale has produced 18 agendas, one for each of its meetings, at an average of 229-pages each.
The city confirmed its 14 councillors received hard copies of each agenda prior to meetings, which meant a councillor who had been in attendance for every meeting would have received more than 4000 pages in that time.
City of Armadale chief executive Ray Tame said supplying each councillor with more environmentally friendly digital tablets was not high on the priority list.
“We don’t direct councillors to use one format or another,” he said.
“If we went to the expense of providing one form of tablet or laptop it might not be compatible with the councillor’s own private or business system.
“For the time being the optimum solution is a council policy enabling councillors to make claims for reimbursement for any communication technology expenses like iPads used in their role as councillor.”
If councillors wished to purchase a tablet for city work they could claim up to $1156 for reimbursement in the 2017-18 financial year.
iPads have been advertised from less than $500 and other non-Apple products were often cheaper.
As part of Armadale’s 2017-18 budget the city charges 20 cents per page of agenda printed on request.
This charge takes into account the cost to the council of providing the service and the price at which the service could be provided by an alternative supplier.
The fee is determined in order to maintain affordable access for the public.
City of Gosnells councillors are provided with a computer and printer for council business during their term and iPads are made available for accessing agendas, minutes and other city documentation.
Mr Tame said he was aware of councils which had decided to supply iPads but was not sure it would work in Armadale.
“Councils and agencies have ventured down the path of prescribing new equipment only to find it didn’t suit all parties,” he said.
“We are continuing to monitor technology and always looking for new ideas to aid decision making.”
