Changes to Sultan's (unwritten) policy on Supplying Minutes/Agenda packet in electronic Word or html (webpage) formats. The City's previous policy has been to supply/distribute Agenda Packets in Word. (visit www.ittakesgrit.org's Sultan Agenda/Minutes Page)

Storm's Jan. 5, 2007 Request to the City re this issue::

From: Loretta Storm
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 10:01 AM
To: Laura Koenig
Cc: Cyd Donk; Knight Deborah
Subject: Minutes for 11/21, 12/6 and 12/14 council mtgs

Dear Laura,

Would you please email me the minutes for these three meetings in WORD so I can present them on my website in html and Word in addition to pdf? Aside from the fact that it's easier for many folks to download and open the smaller Word and html files, linking the audio files** in pdf, rather than in Word/html is far more time-consumling and difficult (especially when the audio does not specifically coincide with the written minutes).

In the future, I would greatly appreciate if you can remember to send the agenda packet to me in Word (as well as in pdf, too, if that is going to be the City's standard -- I hope not). But if you or Cyd/whomever forgets to do so, I will send you a reminder.

Thank you.
Loretta

[G.R.I.T. notation for this webpage only; it was not part of the original email request sent to the City)**Aside from the linking capabilities of using html, whenever the City's minutes are available, I prefer to use their document, rather than my own perhaps-opinionated summary of what occurred at council meetings and hearings. ADDITIONALLY, if the City's goal is to avoid alteration of their documents, they will need to set the appropriate security software commands within their Acrobat program. Currently, as of Jan. 9, 2007, no security settings or protections have been activated/initiated.)

The City's same-day Response:

From: "Deborah Knight" <Deborah.Knight@ci.sultan.wa.us>
To: "Loretta Storm"
"Laura Koenig" <laura.koenig@ci.sultan.wa.us>
Cc: "Cyd Donk" <cyd.donk@ci.sultan.wa.us>, "Ben Tolson"
"Connie Dunn" <Connie.dunn@ci.sultan.wa.us>,
"Rick Cisar" <rick.cisar@ci.sultan.wa.us>,
"Donna Murphy" <donna.murphy@ci.sultan.wa.us>
Subject: RE: Minutes for 11/21, 12/6 and 12/14 council mtgs
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 17:16:57 -0800

Loretta,

I am sorry but I do not feel comfortable authorizing staff to send public records to you (or anyone else) in Microsoft Word format. Microsoft Word documents can be altered by unathorized individuals. I would prefer sending .pdf documents whenever possible to ensure the integrity of our work.

I understand you are trying to copy the word documents into an html format and make this information available to the general public. The City is also interested in making our public documents available in an easy to read format.

Staff and the Mayor are working together to consider changes to the City's website that will make information, such as minutes and the council agenda packet, available in a more user friendly format.

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Deborah