The City of Sulphur is furthering its “go green” initiative by going paperless at City Council and Land Use Commission meetings.

The City Council went paperless for the first time in its Monday meeting, Mayor Chris Duncan said. The Land Use Commission has gone paperless in its past two meetings to test the paperless route.

The city purchased six Dell Latitude 10 tablets for $500 each with funds from its administrative budget. Duncan said the tablets are strictly for meeting use.

“It’s worked really well so far,” he said. “It’s saving our city clerk a lot of time because she isn’t having to print out all of these documents to put the packets together. Now, all she has to do is get the documents from her computer and pop them in the tablets.”

The tablets have the City Council’s agenda, resolutions and ordinances, replacing more than a dozen binders that were being used before. Each binder contained a ream of paper, Duncan said, and by making the switch the city will save about a case of paper per meeting.

“We’re big into recycling, and this is just another effort for the city to go green,” he said. “Not only are we saving time, but we’re saving money and that adds up.”

Other economical initiatives the city has taken are to become more energy efficient throughout Sulphur.

“We’ve gone to more energy-efficient light bulbs throughout the city,” he said. “At home people want to try and cut down utility costs. Well, at the city we’re trying to cut down our utility cost too.”

Recycling programs have also been introduced into some Sulphur schools in recent years. Duncan said additional projects are in the works for the city to continue going green.

Sulphur Mayor Chris Duncan. (American Press Archives)

Karen Wink