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  • Success Story
  • Snowmass Village

How a Town Clerk Preps Meeting Agendas 16x Faster With govMeetings

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Overview

Rhonda Coxon is Snowmass Village’s only clerk. Managing the agendas and minutes for the town council and eight active boards was no easy feat. With govMeetings, Coxon gives citizens a customer-friendly format to catch up on meetings, and she completes agendas 16 times faster.

Time has been the biggest benefit of govMeetings. It makes my job so much easier, and I can focus on other things. I never have to stay late anymore.
Rhonda Coxon, Town Clerk

Metrics

  • 8,800+ Sheets of Paper Saved Costs have been reduced by going digital.
  • 450+ Minutes Saved Per Agenda The govMeetings software saves significant time.
  • $7,000 Saved Yearly Going paperless has reduced budget spend on meetings.
  • 1 Clerk Efficiency is a priority for the team of one.
Must have Granicus Solutions
Situation

One-Woman Show, 8,800 Agenda Pages

For most of her 27-year career with Snowmass Village, Rhonda Coxon has been the Town’s only clerk. She manages the meetings, minutes, and agendas of the town council and eight active boards. This included manually creating 22 sets of agendas twice a month for regular council meetings. These agendas would run 100 to 200 pages long and take an entire day to compile, copy, print, and staple together.

“We have a saying among clerks: ‘The hours are great, but the minutes are killing us.’” – Rhonda Coxon, Town Clerk

Another challenge the Town faced was an active group of part-time residents who wanted to know what was going on during the Town’s base village development. The project, a large, planned unit development, was important for the Town’s economy, helping it compete with nearby ski resorts.

“Members of our second homeowners group wanted insight into what was going on. They would have to wait for minutes or come in to listen to tapes where meetings were recorded. It created frustration for a group that was as important as local voters.”

Solution

Customer-Friendly & Streamlined Solution

Snowmass Village knew they needed to find a twenty-first century solution that streamlined operations and provided residents with a customer-friendly format for finding information. The Town found a natural solution with Granicus.

The Town implemented govMeetings. Granicus Video allows them to live stream and record meetings for their constituents to view on demand. Having recorded meetings also provides accountability. “There is no more doubt about what a person says. They can listen for themselves.” Councilmembers who miss a meeting can easily catch up before the next meeting.

“govMeetings is an excellent customer-service tool.” – Rhonda Coxon, Town Clerk

Coxon says it was a natural transition to also implement Peak for agenda management after the introduction of Granicus Video. Peak helps keep agendas and minutes consistent across the different boards and familiar for residents. Additionally, iLegislate allows councilmembers to view a meeting’s agenda from a tablet device or computer, eliminating paper copies.

Results

16x Faster Agenda Prep

“My open records requests have gone way down. I can just refer citizens to the website for videos and meeting minutes.” Coxon says that citizens love it.

With govMeetings Peak, Coxon has saved time prepping and publishing meeting agendas. She no longer starts agendas from scratch but builds agendas from a template. A task that took her a day now takes 30 minutes. “With Peak, I don’t have to re-type anything, it’s already there,” says Coxon. She adds that she completes 90% of the minutes while in the meeting.

The Town also found that they were being more sustainable with Peak. Instead of printing 22 agendas, they only print one copy now. They reduced paper costs across the office from $10,000 a year to $3,000 a year.

“We believe in transparency, and that’s what Granicus does. Use all of the Granicus products. Don’t stop at one.” – Rhonda Coxon, Town Clerk