HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Statement 1985/09/03 Item 7 COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT
Item 7
Meeting Date 9/3/85
ITEM TITLE: Resolution /445-7 Authorizing the purchase of dictation
equipment for the City Clerk's office and transferring funds
SUBMITTED BY: City Cler (4/5ths Vote: Yes No X )
For the past several years, the City Clerk has been dictating minutes of City
Council meetings and other related office correspondence into either the Uher
tape recorder (reel to reel) or a small cassette tape recorder. Because of
the extensive time it takes to transcribe from this equipment and because the
cassette player is no longer functioning, new dictating equipment is being
requested.
RECOMMENDATION: Approve the purchase of a Lanier Messenger dictation system
and the transfer of the necessary funds from the City Council contingency fund
to the City Clerk's budget.
BOARDS/COMMISSIONS RECOMMENDATION: Not applicable.
DISCUSSION:
There are approximately 75 Council meetings per year for which the City Clerk
is required to prepare minutes. The Council meetings are sometimes quite
lengthy (averaging 3 to 4 hours) necessitating a significant amount of
dictation for input into the word processor.
During the past several years, the City Clerk has used a small portable
cassette recorder which was not designed for transcription to both dictate
into and transcribe from which has proved to be a very time-consuming process
during transcription as there are no foot pedal controls and the tape has to
be forwarded and reversed by hand. In addition, the earphones no longer
function which require that the transcriber put the recorder on her desk and
turn the volume up to transcribe. This is time-consuming and disruptive to
the office routine. During the past week, the recorder has almost completely
stopped functioning at all which requires a new dictation transcription device.
As indicated in the introductory paragraph, the Uher tape recorder has also
been used to dictate and transcribe. This also has proved ineffective as the
machine was not designed for transcriptiorr or dictation, has no way to mark
special instructions, and is fairly heavy to move from the vault to the City
Clerk's desk, and then to the word processing desk.
Page 2, Item 7
Meeting Date 9/3/85
A new Deputy City Clerk has been selected and will report in early September.
This means that not only will the City Clerk be dictating, but also the Deputy
will dictate when she takes minutes. At the time of preparation of the last
budget, the small cassette was still operating, and it was decided to wait
until the next budget to request this equipment. However, since the cassette
can no longer be used for dictation, the need for the equipment is now. It
should be noted that the savings in staff time will more than pay for the
equipment during the first six months of its use.
It, therefore, seems appropriate to purchase a Lanier Messenger system similar
to the one in the Mayor/Council offices (and is the new version of Lanier's
Action Line which is used by various departments throughout the City) . The
main station will be located by the word processing terminal with input
stations located on the City Clerk's and Deputy Clerk's desks. In addition,
since this machine is similar to the one in Mayor/Council offices, at those
times that the Mayor or members of the Council dictate items that the Council
Secretary is not able to transcribe, the Clerk's office could transcribe the
tapes on their machine. It is recommended that the following equipment be
purchased:
1 Lanier Messenger Transcription Unit - P-95 Cost: $1,378.00
2 Input Stations - LX-212 $ 530.00
1 Listening Device - NT-004 No Charge
1 Foot Control - LX-055 No Charge
1 MCX Bulk Eraser $ 26.50
10 MC-60 Micro-Cassettes $ 37.10
TOTAL $1,971.60
FISCAL IMPACT: This would require the transfer and expenditure of
$1,971.60. It is recommended that the funds be transferred from City
Council's contingency fund to the City Clerk's office equipment account
(100-0160-5566) .
WPC 0800A
by the City ;rcII of
CiV_1L Vista, California
Dated