The Shelby County Commission has decided to go paperless. It is a move that simply makes sense, and has the capacity to ease citizen access to government goings-ons

Last year, copying and paper fees in the commission office cost the county more than $30,000.

Which is part of the reason the commission has decided to go almost completely paperless.

One of many technology upgrades to hit the commission office next year, the document management system will route documents electronically starting in February. It was purchased by commissioners from SIRE Technologies for $247,400.

Commissioners also approved a $97,465 electronic voting system by Granicus Inc, to be rolled out next spring. And a $26,700 system called Granicus Streaming Solution will allow commission meetings to broadcast live on the Internet.

Cameras still need to be purchased for the streaming video, also pushing the target date to spring.

Commission Chairman David Lillard said the upgrades, which will allow more people to access government proceedings, are worth the money.

Of course, additional savings could be had in reducing the staff necessary to maintain paper records, but being that the Shelby County Commission is still a government entity, it is unlikely that will happen anytime soon.

The citizen access and the government accountability that comes with it are the exciting parts of going paperless. Every document pertaining to county government ought to be available via the county website, or at the very least, easily emailed to concerned citizens.

So, kudos to Shelby County’s commission. There’s no reason every county, municipality and state agency in Tennessee should not follow suit.