Davie County has implemented a new method for residents to connect to meetings held by the board of commissioners, planning board and board of adjustment.

This online meeting portal will provide staff and board members with the ability to share information electronically, both internally and with the public. It will allow staff to reduce costs by using less paper and lessening the time involved for agenda preparation and distribution.

County Manager Mike Ruffin recognized the need for a paperless agenda management system not long after starting with the County.

“Paperless agendas have been around for a while, but we needed a system to not only create a paperless agenda, but also handle the internal workflow process to improve agenda preparation,” said Ruffin. “In the past, our board members were given very large binders, sometimes containing hundreds of pages of material, for each meeting. With five board members and several staff receiving the full agenda packet, the workload to produce the agenda was tremendous. Now, all agenda material will be online and available not only to the board but to the public as well.”

The county has started with the board of commissioners, the planning board and the board of adjustment. Since the system is online, any department that has an appointed board has the ability to use the system.

“The new system is centered on efficiency, productivity and cost savings, but the public will see greater transparency with their local government which is a goal we all share,” said Ruffin.

The system is available through the county website at www.daviecountync.gov. Upcoming meetings are displayed and a link to the agenda packet are listed when information is published. The site is accessible from computers and mobile devices as well as an iPad app, WeGovern, available from the App store. The site can also be accessed directly at http://daviecountync.iqm2.com.