Agenda - Council - 04/10/1990 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Meeting Summary Optical Scan Informational Meeting February 12, 1990 Commissioner Paul McCarron opened the meeting by explaining that the 1987 Elections Task Force had previously recommended purchase of Ioptical scan equipment for the 1992 elections. However, circumstances ::',/- are such that there is demonstrated interest on the part of various ~.~ ~ '~', ' cities in Anoka County in purchasing optical scan voting equipment I. ahead of schedule. Provisions stated by these cities for buying this equipment include the fact that the cities have based their purchase agreement of said equipment contingent upon the county's participation' in the project. Commissioner McCarron indicated that the meeting would provide a forum for the cities to explain their position and for other interested parties to offer information and ask questions. He then called for any representatives from the cities to address the group. I I I I i I I I I I I I Tom Ryan, mayor pro-tem of the City of Blaine, outlined the history of the cities' current involvement with optical scan, and the reasons that many of the cities wish to accelerate the timetable for buying an optical scan system. These reasons include; ease of use, timeliness of results, increased public confidence, better audit trail, more appeal for election judges, conformance with systems used in the rest of the metro area. Mr. Ryan explained that it is the responsibility of each municipality to determine which type of voting system its residents will use, but that cooperation with the county in the past has been advantageous for the municipalities as a whole. He indicated that on November 15, 1989, after being approached by Business Records Corporation, eight Anoka County cities representing approximately 3/4 of the precincts in the county had decided to enter into a joint powers agreement in order to issue a request for proposals for optical scan systems. After the proposals were received, representatives of the eight cities met again and voted to accept the proposal submitted by Unisys Corp., contingent upon Unisys certification by the state and also upon Anoka County's agreement to participate. Mr. Ryan also read portions of letters received from other election jurisdictions detailing their experience with optical scan. He also expressed strong support from the City of Blaine for the move to optical scan. Discussion ensued on the matter. Support for the~project was voiced by elected representatives from Coon Rapids (Mayor Rick Reiter, Councilmembers Thorsvik, Racutt, and Voss), Ham Lake (Mayor Marilyn Schultz), Spring Lake Park (Councilmember John Conde), and Blaine (Councilmembers Ryan and Stenstrom). Roger Grams, East Bethel mayor, expressed concern that some of the smaller cities do not have the tax base of the larger cities and are therefore unprepared to spend the money it would take to purchase the required units. Don Busch, City Clerk of Spring Lake Park indicated that the city has been putting away.funds for the purchase, but has not saved enough yet to buy the units that would be needed.