Ann Arbor govt pushes further into techworld

Ann Arbor city government is pushing further into the tech world these days, sometimes by choice and sometimes by necessity.The city recently offered a call-in service for its public meeting, similar to how a radio show takes questions on air. Normally, people who want to express opinions have to come to the meeting in person and state their case. This newest service let them do it from their cell phone.The city is also looking to move its public notification system into the 21st Century by posting public notices online. This came up when The Ann Arbor News closed this summer leaving the city without a daily newspaper, the normal vehicle for posting public notices like upcoming council votes and informational sessions.Now that the paper is gone, the city is maneuvering to see if it can just post these sort of notices online to satisfy the city’s ordinance governing this practice. If so, it would be one of the first local municipalities to rely on this method. Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke