Council considers high-tech

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

February 28, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Bemidji Mayor Doug Peterson's initiative and an $8,000 grant received by the Bemidji School District could make the City Council one of the newest busloads of people to go careening at breakneck speeds down the "information superhighway."

A partnership in the works -- among the city, the Bemidji School District and Northwest Technical College-Bemidji -- could provide the City Council with computer equipment and training sometime this year, Peterson said, allowing the city to save "reams of paper" and "lots of time."

Although Peterson cautioned the proposal is still in a concept stage, by next year the council members could be using IBM laptop computers to receive council agendas, memos and minutes.

In the proposal, the school district grant would pay for the computer training of City Council members, School Board members and county commissioners. The training would be provided by NTC-Bemidji staff.

However, Peterson didn't know how far the school district or county would take the training.

The city would also purchase the computers -- most likely 13 units -- through the college, Peterson said because the college has connections with IBM corporation that would be beneficial.

The timeline is tentative, but the mayor said the council could be practicing on computers leased from the college as early as this summer, leasing the city's own computers in the final months of the year and incrementally using city-owned computers in the first meetings of 1998.

The mayor said the city would have to lease the computers until next year because funds were not allocated for such a project in the 1997 budget.

"I'm extremely excited about this. I think the city of Bemidji will be out in front of a lot of cities our size in facing technology," he said. "And I feel strongly this is the way we need to go."

Council members said the main benefits of using the laptop computers would be the decrease in paper flow among city staff and the council and the city clerk's time saved by not having to reproduce the paperwork for each council meeting.

The major setback to the proposals the computer system in City Hall would need $35,000 in upgrades to accommodate the new computers, but Peterson said the city's system needs the upgrades regardless if the councilors receive computers.

"This is a step into the 21st century," Councilor Rosemary Given Amble said, adding that she has heard good reports from other city councils which have already implemented similar systems.

Peterson said although the current council members are middle- to older-aged, most are in favor of the project.

He expects the council will officially approve the proposal later this year.

"It's going to take a little while. We need a little time to make sure (computers) are as user-friendly as everybody says they are," he said. "But I am convinced you can teach an old dog new tricks."