While many cities provide online access to digital copies and archives of city council agenda packets, Sierra Madre does not offer such a service to its citizens, or for that matter, to its own staff. These documents are an invaluable resource, as they provide staff reports and recommendations, as well as background information related to each item on the council’s meeting agenda.

Despite a recent upgrade to the city’s internal computer systems and software, this one functionality was left out of the upgrade in an effort to save on costs. Patch has spoken with city staff about the need for such a service and the difficulties that arise from not having a searchable database of past city council agenda packets. City Manager Elaine Aguilar has said that this upgrade will be part of a future proposal to the City Council seeking further upgrades to municipal computer systems.

Until such a system is put into place, thousands of public documents are locked away in folders on the hard drives of city staff members or, worse, in hard copy on bookshelves at city hall.

While some copies are made available to members of the press and one copy sits at City Hall for public viewing, it is our belief that simple, online access to these documents is an important step forward in promoting openness in government as well as increased civic awareness and engagement.

Therefore, in keeping with our commitment to the promotion of open government, Sierra Madre Patch will now begin scanning these agenda packets and publishing them on our site as easily accessible PDF files ahead of each meeting so that the citizenry can be as informed as possible about city proposals, discussions and actions the Sierra Madre City Council.

Starting today, we will begin providing full access to Sierra Madre City Council Agenda packets before each meeting of the City Council in an easy to view, read, print and even download to your computer. Each item in the packet has been scanned and sub-divided into individual PDF files pertaining to each item on the agenda.

Each time we publish these documents, we will link to the previous council meeting’s agenda packet. So if you would like to receive an email notification every time these pages are published, simply click the “Keep Me Posted!” button at the bottom of this article.

To view the full agenda packet for the May 10, 2011 meeting of the Sierra Madre City Council, simply click here or follow the full HTML link below:

http://sierramadre.patch.com/articles/complete-agenda-packet-for-the-may-10-2011-meeting-of-the-sierra-madre-city-council