Meeting Date: 04/28/2016 Report Type: Consent. Report ID:

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1 Meeting Date: 04/28/2016 Report Type: Consent 06 Report ID: Title: Electronic and Digital Records and Transactions, Including Signatures and Approvals Recommendation: Adopt a resolution: 1) authorizing the District to conduct transactions or communication by electronic and digital means in accordance applicable law 2) finding, consistent with applicable law, that an electronic record satisfies the requirement to create and/or maintain a written record and that an electronic or digital signature satisfies any signature requirement 3) authorizing the Clerk of the Board (or designee) to attest to actions taken by the Board of Directors, inclusive of Board resolutions, by digital signature, and eliminating the requirement of the Board Chair to sign resolutions of the Board, and 4) directing that, in lieu of Action Summaries, the Clerk of the Board (or designee) will keep and produce minutes recording the proceedings of the Board at all regular and special meetings and that the minutes be placed on the Board agenda at a subsequent meeting for consideration and approval by the Board. Rationale for Recommendation: The District is currently implementing multiple technology solutions as part of its Systems Integration Project. To optimize the use of this technology and improve efficiencies in the District, staff is developing operating procedures utilizing electronic and digital tools, including signatures. Staff is requesting the Board approve various actions intended to enable the District to: use electronic records, electronic signatures, and digital signatures as allowed by law; streamline multiple District operating processes; and, improve efficiencies and eliminate unnecessary steps in the document approval process. Contact: Patrick Smith, Administrative Program Supervisor, Presentation: yes no Attachments: ATTACHMENT 1 ANALYSIS ATTACHMENT 2 RESOLUTION Approvals/Acknowledgements Executive Director or Designee: Report Approved District Counsel or Designee: Approved as to Form Larry Greene Kathrine Pittard

2 ATTACHMENT 1 ANALYSIS Discussion: As part of its Systems Integration Project, the District is implementing multiple technology solutions. In February, the staff presented a status update on the Systems Integration Project. Below is a brief summary of the projects that were presented. SharePoint SharePoint is a Microsoft application that provides functionality for creating websites and collaboration opportunities. It is a secure space for storing, organizing and sharing information that can be accessed by most devices. Meeting Management The District seeks to implement software designed for creating, approving and tracking meeting items and used to manage the board items for all Board of Director meetings. In addition, it will be used to manage the agendas and reports for the District Hearing Board and the Sacramento Valley Basinwide Air Pollution Control Council (SVBCC). Enterprise Resource Planning The District seeks to implement an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application for the purpose of consolidating various business processes. This ERP application is expected to provide functionalities around Grants Management, Finance, Procurements, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Billing/ Invoicing, Travel & Expenses, Capital Projects Management & Contracts Management and several ancillary business processes, which are currently primarily done manually, using spreadsheets and paperforms. Line of Business Application The District operates several Microsoft Access databases for its stationary source programs and administration services, and a SQL database for its vehicle incentive and air monitoring programs. The Line of Business project aims to consolidate all of these into a single Line of Business (LOB) application. This application, once implemented, will integrate seamlessly with the SharePoint sites and the ERP application, thus providing efficiencies for staff and improved self-service to District customers. Skype for Business Skype for Business is a Microsoft product that allows for easier and smoother collaboration within the organization. Skype integrates with SharePoint, MS Office and VoIP telephony, and provides an instant, real-time communication channel to all employees. Skype can be used to host tele-conferences and video-conference both with internal and external parties. At the time of the presentation in February, staff was evaluating several prospective software solutions to improve the board agenda development and meeting process. Staff have now determined that Novus Agenda best meets the needs of the District. This solution is currently being implemented and is expected to go live within 2-3 months.

3 Novus Agenda will greatly streamline the agenda development and approval process while remaining mostly transparent to board members. Novus Agenda has some very desirable features by way of the Novus Boardview portal, for those board members who may be interested. However, board members may also choose to continue receiving the board meeting packets exactly as they do today. Novus Agenda also allows for workflow and digital approvals of board items as they are being prepared for board members and the public. Utilizing the functionality in the software will enable the process to be completely paperless and generate final documents accessible to the board and the public that are more consistent and have improved navigation. In addition, the electronic workflow and digital approval process will result in significant efficiencies in the agenda development process. Staff is recommending that, consistent with applicable law, the Board approve use of an electronic record to satisfy the written-recordkeeping requirements, and approve the use of an electronic or digital signature to satisfy signature requirements. As an example, board reports would be digitally approved by the Executive Director and District Counsel, indicating the time and date and name each of them approved the document. Consistent with the District s effort to streamline the meeting agenda process, staff is proposing to eliminate the requirement for the Board Chair to sign board resolutions. Instead, the Board actions will be recorded through the Clerk of the Board s electronic or digital attestation. Nothing in state law requires resolutions to be signed by a member of the District s legislative body, nor does anything prohibit reliance on the Board Clerk s attestation to the vote. Other agencies are shifting to this model. For example, since July 2013 the Mayor of City of Sacramento no longer signs resolutions and the City Clerk attests to the vote on resolutions with a digital signature. Additionally, staff recommends that, in lieu of Action Summaries currently published on the District s website, the Board Clerk produce minutes recording the proceedings of the Board at all regular and special meetings and that the minutes be placed on the Board agenda at a subsequent meeting for consideration and approval by the Board. This is consistent with best practices, increases transparency and helps ensure accuracy of all Board proceeding records. There are several other workflows being developed in the SharePoint implementation, and many business processes envisioned for the Enterprise Resource Planning and Line of Business solutions, which would benefit from the use of electronic and digital approvals/signatures. Moreover, the District and public will benefit greatly from the ability to digitize records in that the records can be made more readily available and searchable and it will facilitate management of the District s documents and compliance with records retention schedules. Therefore, staff is requesting that the Board authorize the District to conduct transactions or communication by electronic and digital means in accordance applicable law enabling the District to streamline operations and improve efficiencies. Regarding Novus Agenda, below are a few features/benefits of the software itself and specifically the Boardview functionality for board members interested in using the application: web-based; unique login accessible from any location and any device will easily integrate with SharePoint (our public facing website) as well as document management repository (backup/archives) Integrates with other enterprise software the District will be deploying built with responsive design (flexibility of use on phones/tablets/etc.) hosted on the Amazon Government Cloud which is backed up daily

4 has enhanced functionality within the software itself, e.g., ad-hoc workflows has the ability to attach videos of the meetings to the website robust boardview portal Features of Novus Boardview: view upcoming meeting agenda view specific items, along with support material make private notations on any item for meeting preparation view past minutes review and comment on draft minutes prior to voting on them research past agenda, minutes and personal comments. Each board member wishing to access the Boardview portal would be provided with unique login credentials and would need a tablet or laptop, which could be their own or provided by the District for use during board meetings. Staff can arrange for a demonstration and training for any interested board members. Financial Considerations: The Novus Agenda software will be an ongoing expense of approximately $5,000 annually, with a first year cost of $7,200 which includes initial implementation. There is sufficient funding allocated for these services. All expenses associated with implementing electronic and digital solutions are included in the Systems Integration Project budget.

5 ATTACHMENT 2 RESOLUTION SACRAMENTO METROPOLITAN AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT DISTRICT RESOLUTION NO. ELECTRONIC AND DIGITAL RECORDS AND TRANSACTIONS, INCLUDING SIGNATURES AND APPROVALS WHEREAS The District is currently implementing multiple technology solutions as part of its Systems Integration Project and developing operating procedures utilizing electronic and digital tools, including signatures, to optimize the use of this technology and improve efficiencies; and WHEREAS staff evaluated several prospective software solutions to improve the board agenda development and meeting process and determined that Novus Agenda best met the needs of the District and is an application that allows for workflow and digital approvals of board items; and WHEREAS there are several other workflows being developed in the SharePoint implementation, and many business process envisioned for the Enterprise Resource Planning and Line of Business solutions which would benefit from the use of electronic and digital approvals/signatures; and WHEREAS conducting transactions or communication by electronic and digital means in accordance applicable law will enable the District to streamline operations and improve efficiencies; and WHEREAS the Clerk of the Board s attestation, which may be done digitally, to the vote as part of the role of clerk to the legislative body is sufficient record of the Board action can eliminate the requirement for the Board Chair to sign board resolutions; and WHEREAS having the Clerk of the Board produce minutes recording the proceedings of the Board at all regular and special meetings and placing the minutes on the Board agenda at a subsequent meeting for consideration and approval by the Board is consistent with best practices, increases transparency and helps ensure accuracy of all Board proceedings; and WHEREAS the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act (California Civil Code Section ) authorizes use of an electronic signature for transactions and contracts among parties in California, including government agencies, and defines an "electronic signature" to mean an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with an electronic record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the electronic record; and WHEREAS digital signatures are authorized by California Civil Code section 16.5 and have supporting regulations adopted by the Secretary of State pertaining to public entities.

6 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that District is authorized to conduct transactions or communication by electronic and digital means in accordance with California Civil Code section and Government Code section 16.5 and the applicable regulations adopted by the Secretary of State that affect public entities in California; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that, consistent with applicable law, an electronic record satisfies the requirement to create and/or maintain a written record and that an electronic or digital signature satisfies any signature requirement; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Clerk of the Board (or designee) is authorized to attest to actions taken by the Board of Directors, inclusive of Board resolutions, by digital signature, and eliminate the requirement of the Board Chair to sign resolutions of the Board; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that, in lieu of Action Summaries, the Clerk of the Board (or designee) is directed to keep and produce minutes recording the proceedings of the Board at all regular and special meetings and that the minutes be placed on the Board agenda at a subsequent meeting for consideration and approval by the Board; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED AND ORDERED that this action is intended to enable the District to use electronic records, electronic signatures, and digital signatures to the fullest extent allowed by law, and does not limit the District s ability to use electronic records, electronic signatures, or digital signatures in any way. ON A MOTION by Director, seconded by Director, the foregoing resolution was passed and adopted by the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, State of California, this 28 th day of April 2016 by the following vote, to wit: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: Directors Directors Directors (SEAL) Chairperson of the Board Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District State of California ATTEST: Clerk of the Board Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District