National City, CA
In this case study, Shelley Chapel, City Clerk for National City, California, shares how eScribe made the city’s public meeting work faster, easier, and more efficient.
National City, CA
How eScribe Drove Success:
- Easy implementation with a helpful customer success team.
- Elimination of bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
- Huge time savings by ditching paper-based processes, with additional cost savings on resources like paper and toner.
- Colleagues outside of the Clerk’s Office love eScribe, too!
“I’ve had a lot of people say, ‘Thank you so much for implementing eScribe!’”
Shelly Chapel. City Clerk, National City
Background
When Shelley Chapel was hired as the City Clerk of National City, CA, she noticed that the processes in the Clerk’s office were very paper-heavy. She began thinking about how she could bring in some new, innovative tools to help make things more efficient. After contacting other city clerks in her network, a colleague told her about eScribe. “She was thrilled about eScribe; she couldn’t say enough good things about it! She told me I had to look into this product, saying it’s just exactly what we as city clerks have been looking for,” Shelley said. “And so I did, and we love it.”
From Paper to Digital
Before implementing eScribe, the Clerk’s Office at National City used mostly paper-based processes to manage public meetings. Shelley notes that this quickly turned into a lot to handle, saying that a tremendous amount of work went into managing all that paper. “For example, staff would have to print a document, hand carry it to another office, and if there were changes, they’d have to change that document electronically, print it, and hand carry another piece of paper to another office… It was very labor intensive,” Shelley said.
That’s when Shelley approached the City Manager and proposed a digital meeting management solution. This was immediately post-pandemic, so staffing levels were low, and new ways to improve efficiencies were welcome. As a result, Shelley got the green light to begin the process of implementing eScribe. One final step was to receive City Council approval, and with a unanimous vote, it was approved!
What National City Loves About eScribe
From easy implementation with a helpful and communicative customer success team to a huge increase in efficiency, National City has a lot to rave about when it comes to eScribe. When asked about her single favorite thing about eScribe, Shelley remarked, “It’s streamlined the whole agenda process, from drafting the report to the minutes. It’s all-inclusive and in just one workflow.”
Shelley and her staff also love that eScribe is compatible with familiar tools. “The reports are written in Word, so it’s familiar to staff, and the ability to draft the report, approve, attach documents, and draft minutes all in one workflow is amazing!”
Colleagues outside of the Clerk’s Office also love eScribe. Shelley said, “I have directors who appreciate the fact that they can do things when they’re on vacation or wherever they have WiFi. They can access and approve the reports and other items since it’s web-based. Web-based access allows the workflow process to continue. A bonus is that we don’t have the bottlenecks that we used to have from, for instance, waiting for a staff member to return to the office.”
Although Shelley explored other solutions while searching for a cloud-based meeting management solution, she noted that “eScribe just went over the top.” Particularly nodding to eScribe’s customer success team, Shelly said, “eScribe’s support staff responds in literally 15 minutes or less after we submit any request, whether that’s an email, text, or phone call. They have always been so helpful and very responsive. Always. We’ve never had an issue that we haven’t been able to get resolved quickly.”
When asked how she and her team would react if they could no longer use eScribe, Shelley remarked, “We’d be in tears. I really would be extremely upset because it has changed our life that much–for the whole organization, not just my office.”
Get Started Today
Bring the town square to citizens’ doorsteps–wherever, whenever. Encourage public engagement and drive transparency with a range of modules that eliminate traditional barriers to full participation.