By a vote of 3 – 2, the commissioners of the Town of Lady Lake on Monday voted in favor of purchasing five Microsoft Surface Pro3 tablets. These tablets will replace the need for paper agendas and reports.
At a workshop before the regular commission meeting a representative from Best Buy demonstrated the tablet and answered questions. Commissioner Paul Hannan came prepared with two pages of questions. In the end, he said he felt strongly that only one should be purchased “to use as a benchmark.” Commissioner Tony Holden’s concern was the warranty.
It was noted by Town Manager Kris Kollgaard that these tablets would pay for themselves in 18 to 24 months given the cost of printing reports for the commissioners that are sometimes 400 to 600 pages in length. The total cost for the five tablets including the warranty will be about $4,000.
Commissioner Jim Richards indicated he would be willing to use the tablet to save money, but pointed out that it would only save money if all the commissioners agreed to use the tablets.
The majority ruled and the commissioners expect to be using the tablets by the beginning of 2016.
In other business, the commission made several appointments:
• Joseph D’Elia was appointed to the library board.
• Pete Chiasson and Diana Crouch were appointed to the planning and zoning board.
• Betty Salas, Heather Curry and Ronald Francis were appointed to the Economic Development Advisory Committee.
