4 Achievable Ways to Update Your Old Legislative and Citizen Workflows

It’s easy to get stuck in old ways of doing things. It doesn't matter if it takes longer or requires more work; it’s familiar and gets done almost completely out of habit. Tom Spengler, Granicus CEO, led a great session at IIMC which showed municipal clerks how to break old habits and work smarter. There was clearly a lot of interest in this topic. The room was packed with 80-100 people!

Since the session was two hours, I’ve summarized below 4 ways to help government work smarter. Additionally, we’ve published a few short video clips from the session. 

Click to read more ...

Governing on the iPad with iLegislate

Every day, more and more government agencies are adopting the iPad. Why shouldn’t they? It’s mobile, it’s dependable, and the number of government apps is growing at a fast pace. Granicus recognized this trend and released an iPad app called iLegislate into Beta last year to see how effective it could be at helping governments save paper while improving meeting efficiency.

I’m pleased to report that Granicus just released iLegislate into full production. Now, any government agency can leverage the iLegislate app and Granicus solutions to replace paper-based agenda packets with a more mobile, action-driven, and cost-saving alternative.

Click to read more ...

CSAC 2011: County Governments Prioritize Transparency

This week Granicus attended the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) 117^th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. It got me thinking about how counties are using technology to make government more open and participatory. Did you know that 50% of all counties in the state of California use Granicus technology to achieve this? One thing we know for sure, county leaders in CA and across the country are not afraid of thinking differently or applying new techniques and technologies to achieve their community goals.

Click to read more ...

Granicus Introduces Complete Agenda Management: Top 3 Webinar Highlights

Here’s a quick recap of the webinar we just hosted to provide Granicus users with a new solution to manage the complete lifecycle of legislation – from its very inception to its final disposition and internet publication. The turnout to this webinar was incredible; over 250 local governments were in attendance. This tells us that government agencies are really looking for a better way to handle their paper-heavy, labor intensive agenda process.

Click to read more ...

Coral Gables City Council Launches Legislative System for Increased Transparency

The City of Coral Gables, Florida recently went live with a new agenda management solution provided by Granicus to heighten government transparency and efficiency by automating their entire legislative workflow including agenda creation, approvals, minutes creation, and historical tracking for legislation. I recently sat down with Walter Foeman, City Clerk, to ask him about the driving factors in purchasing this solution. I thought his responses could help other cities and towns.

Click to read more ...

Florida City Clerks Conference: Popular Topics & Trends

Looking back at a successful Florida Association of City Clerks (FACC) conference in Orlando FL, I can’t help but think about the lively discussions and interesting perspectives being shared from city clerks around the state of Florida. I wanted to summarize a few of the popular topics being discussed while at the conference to generate more awareness and to offer Granicus as a helpful resource to address some of these initiatives—particularly when it involves technology's role in shaping government transparency and the legislative process.

Click to read more ...

Granicus at FACC: Florida Clerks Know How to Host a Conference

The 2011 Summer Academy in Orlando, FL was Granicus’ first time attending a conference by the Florida Association of City Clerks (FACC)—and it won’t be the last! As any one of us will tell you, the Sunshine State has perfected the art of the warm welcome. Granicus was thrilled to be a part of the conference, especially because we have over 50 municipal clients across the state of Florida. Having attended many other local government conferences, I immediately noticed several differences in Orlando.

Click to read more ...