I’m signed up for quite a few. Aside from the planning petitions through ETrakit (which at least do alert you that something is happening), many useful notices are available in this way. This is how I knew when to put my waste receptacles out last week. And now I know my snow route and how to check on the planned events.

Not sure I’d call it a success. For example, I signed up for Historic District Commission notices. About one a week I get an email that an HDC application for a permit has been filed, along with a link for more information. When I click on the link, it takes me to a TRAKIT page that seldom has any more information than the subject line of the original email. Usually just an address–sometimes a note that the permit was approved by staff.

Not sure if this is a failing of the notification system or just the usual inadequacies of TRAKIT, that enormously expensive and apparently somewhat useless software system the City’s been trying to implement for years now.

Problem is, as Dave discovered, a human being still needs to enter the information on the City’s end when a meeting, or other City action is scheduled.

At the same time our City is positioning itself as up to date, worthy of a high speed internet system from Google, and the “in” place to be. So why are we relying on 19th century methods to notify people of important City events? By all means meet the legal requirements, but it would be a minimum cost to allow citizens of Ann Arbor to register their interests with a City database which could then route notices to individuals based on their interests/needs. For example, one could select “anything that affects my neighborhood” (neighborhoods are pretty well defined already by the Planning Department), interest in parks, union contracts, etc — a defined list of City functions. This doesn’t have to be broken down to an extremely fine level and once set up there should be no City employee intervention except for routine database maintenance. Selecting or deselecting things to be routed to a Citizen would be their responsibility. This could even be done as a web app that people could access via a smart phone. None of this wold eliminate the need for walking downstairs and pinning a notice to the board, but it would certainly be a better service to the people who pay the taxes.

This is only one proposal. There are far better information systems designers in this town than I, so I’m sure much better, more technologically advanced solutions can be developed.

I can remember times getting notice of a shareholder meeting the day after it occurred.

Such failures are a part of the inherent imperfections of our society in general.

The confirmation scenario you suggest may be helpful but forming a relationship with a member of the commission who could give you a “heads-up” on upcoming meetings via e-mail could be the most effective way.

The Open Meetings Act does have a mechanism of voiding actions of public bodies via court intervention where insufficiences existed in administering proper public notice.