By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

Both Lewiston and Auburn are making it possible for people to keep up with their city councils without ever leaving home.

Both cities have made the move from paper to digital agendas posted online.

Lewiston City Clerk Kathy Montejo said her staff has been putting copies of the city council’s agenda online for years, but began working to put the full, city-council packets online in January.

That includes copies of all ordinances and resolutions that councilors are reviewing and supporting documents.

“We wanted to do it for a couple of months and make sure we had all of the bugs worked out,” Montejo said. “So, we’ve waited for a while to actually promote it. But now, I think we’re ready.

The entire packet for Tuesday’s meeting is available to download from the city’s Web page, ci.lewiston.me.us, in an Adobe Acrobat PDF.

Auburn has started posting full council packets as well. City Clerk Mary Lou Magno said there are two benefits.

“It saves us a lot of money,” Magno said.

For instance, councilors will be reviewing a 40-page Androscoggin County Emergency Management proposal at their March 7 meeting.

“Normally, we would have had to print out copies for a dozen or so people, and that’s hundreds of pages,” Magno said. “That can really add up.”

It also makes the council information handy for a broader range of Auburn citizens.

“And that’s one of the council’s big goals,” Magno said. “We knew that, and we knew we could get that up and running pretty quickly.”

Auburn’s council packets are available on Auburn’s Web site, www.auburnmaine.org.

TV to debut

Auburn residents should be able to watch the council’s March 7 meeting from their homes as well, according to Laurie Smith, acting finance director.

Three cameras were installed in the City Council chambers earlier in February and crews from Great Falls TV are expected this week to connect the cameras to their system and show Auburn staff how to use it.

“There is some question about whether it will be live right off or not,” Smith said. Great Falls has agreed to play a taped copy of the meeting if the crew cannot get the connection working this week.

“But we know they can do it live, because they do it live in Lewiston,” Smith said. “We know the capability is there. Now, it’s just a matter of figuring out the processes.”

Montejo said the Tuesday night broadcasts of Lewiston’s council meetings continue to be popular.

“It amazes me how many residents do actually tune in to watch it,” she said. “I have people call first thing the next morning to say they went to bed before the meeting ended, and they want to know how it all turned out.”