Bright Ideas
Combined Conference Room Availability Calendar
Using Sharepoint(?), could there be a calendar on Elknet that allows the viewer to easily determine the availability of conference rooms? When looking for an available conference room, it's sometimes difficult. In Outlook, you have to check all the conference rooms in your meeting invite, then remove the ones you don't end up using...
Polleverywhere.com - A solution for live polling for in-person or remote (webinar) meetings
I discovered this over the weekend and wanted to share in case it would be helpful to anyone. It provides live polling during a meeting. You can post a question on the screen, audience members can text (or submit via computer) their answers, and the screen will show live (anonymous) results.
Provide Feedback on Why Bright Ideas are Declined
To circumvent employees feeling downtrodden and avoiding submittal of new ideas assuming they'll be denied.
Charitable Giving
Develop a program where the City would match employee contributions to chartable organizations up to a certain maximum dollar amount. City match would be limited to pre-approved charitable organizations that are located in Elk Grove or provide services to Elk Grove residents. Alternatively, develop a program where an employee "community giving" committee could be formed to select a charitable program or project for the year (or more frequently) that would encourage employee participation through volunteering and/or financial contributions with a City match.
311 app
Sacramento County has a 311 application that allows for residents to easily notify/contact the city for issues related to code enforcement, animal control, maintenance issues, etc. This is a huge undertaking but while I worked for Sac County it was such a hugely popular app that I think Elk Grove could benefit from something similar.
Process Videos
While on AskElkGrove, I take calls regularly for business licensing. Perhaps if we had "how-to" videos for the public to watch we could lessen the call volume received in business licensing and assist the applicant simultaneously. Some breakdown of: "if you need xx type of license go here, or if you want to renew here's the process."
Approved Subdivision Maps
It is difficult to locate approved tentative subdivision maps for development projects without contacting multiple people to track it down or if one has access, conduct a search on the "Planning" drive. Duplicative efforts and time spent by staff trying to find the most recent version to make business decisions. There is a SharePoint list and associated map of development projects which contains information for these projects and the current status. Perhaps we can have folks upload the most current approved PDF map and GIS can georeference it so staff can see it as a layer in the map.
SharePoint:
http://elknet/ds/Lists/DSactivity/AllItems.aspx
Map:
Employee Rewards
Create an EG store and reward employees with EG bucks to purchase items- $5 gift cards, etc.
Seasonal Leaf Drop Pick-UP
Driving through Elk Grove over the weekend I noticed a lot of homeowners blowing their leaves into the street. I've seen it in the past where people will place large amounts of landscaping debris or leaf debris into the right of way directly in front of their house. This is a problem because the City doesn't have a contract for leaf pickup. But maybe we should? Three or four months out of the year from October through January the residents of EG would benefit from having leaf debris removal as a City provided service. I also think encouraging residents to clean up their own yard waste by providing free green waste pick-up weekly would help some. The fact that so many residents are non-natives and are accustomed to this service makes an expected City regular function. I'm not suggesting this necessarily be a free service (maybe the weekly green waste during fall could be), but with the storm drain fees already collected, maybe we add this as a service?
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