Many readers will know how to access city council agendas online, and a few of you probably know how to track the progress of an individual item using the Council File Index. But there are—or were—pages of information related to every item in the form of staff reports that could not be accessed by any means other than coming downtown to the Clerk's office. Since taking office, I have sought to make those staff reports available electronically, not just inside City Hall but to the public at large.
Now, if you pull up any City Council or Committee agenda online at the city's website, each agenda item appears with a hyperlink that brings up the actual documents online. It's still on a go forward basis, but now you can review the agenda at home, and, if an item piques your curiousity, you can click and read the staff reports as .pdfs. Here's an example: for agenda item 15 from Tuesday April 12th's council agenda, here is the original motion followed by the legislative analysis. (.pdf links)