05-10-2006 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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RECOMMENDATION: City staff met to discuss available options to increase resident notifications by e -mail. Staff felt that the city should establish an "E -mail Update" section on our web site where interested persons could choose from a list of pre- determined topics to receive periodic broadcast e- mails on items of interest. The e -mails would include messages to the recipients with a link to documents that are available on our web site. The e -mails would not include the actual documents since this is a bulk e -mail tool and our e -mails could then be marked by some e- mail filters as spam or the filters could remove the attachments thinking that they could contain viruses. Recipients could add themselves to desired lists automatically through a web site link and also could remove themselves at any time. Staff did express concern about creating new information that is not already being produced given the limited group of people that would receive such data. Some top web site hits in April, which could be used to determine possible topics to offer, include: ➢ Job Postings - City Newsletters (includes information on community events & Canadian Days) ➢ Parks & Recreation (although much of this is covered under city newsletters) ➢ Agendas & Minutes A detailed list of the web site hits for April is attached for your information. COST: Broadcast E -mail Tool: First 500 recipients are free, 501 -1000 = $.04 per recipient, 1001- 2500 = $.03 per recipient, 2501 -5000 = $.02 per recipient, 5001+ = $.01 per recipient. These costs are reset "monthly" and are charged per message sent to each recipient. (For example, if 200 people had signed up for Parks & Rec Notices and we sent them three different notices during a month, there would actually be a total of 600 messages sent out by e -mail which would translate into the first 500 being free, but the additional 100 would cost us $.04 each or $4.00.) Staff Time: Staff time would be minimal if we are sending links to information that is already being created. However, staff time could increase substantially depending on how much new information is communicated. ISSUES TO CONSIDER: The cost for the e -mail tool could be expensive depending on how many different messages are sent out each month. One could argue that if we provide several different categories to H: \Kathya \Correspondence \Kathy 2006\E -Mail Action Plan Report.doc - 2 -