WALKER – Cass County commissioners will start to receive their board meeting packets by email later this month via their new iPads, saving the cost of five piles of paper about an inch thick each for meetings.

Kam Koch gave the board a demonstration Feb. 7 on how to operate the iPad that will replace their aging laptops. The case that doubles as a stand for each iPad comes with a built-in keyboard.

Each commissioner already has a router in his home, so the iPad will connect wirelessly to the accompanying printer. Koch said the printer also can receive by email instructions to print information sent from the courthouse or another commissioner’s iPad.

While board members have used county-supplied laptops for several years to help them connect by email with administrative offices at the courthouse and their constituents, the modernizing upgrade to iPads seemed like a good time to convert to sending board packets as well.

Most county departments have converted their records from paper to digital formats or are in the process of doing that. It made sense to Administrator Robert Yochum and Central Services Director Tim Richardson to bring the commissioners in line with the rest of the county government.