With the elections on us Deputy Mayor Bob Schnell has questioned this in a recent letter to the editor of the Advertiser.

He has blogged on the same topic. His reflections can be seen here.

Compared to the technical literacy of members years ago verses now we can and should definitely question the need for so much to be made available to us. I believe many elected members do not avail themselves of all this equipment these days. Presumably, like me, they don’t need the equipment because it creates unnecessary duplication.

I took the opportunity of acquiring the notebook, having a dedicated phone line and internet access but I found quickly that it was only going to make my life more difficult.

It was better for me to rely on my own notebook. Having a dedicated phone line proved a waste of time because I was going to be rarely within reach of it and I almost always use my mobile for voice calls.

I returned it all within a month of receiving it way back in 2010/11.

Having said that I did take up the opportunity of using an iPad and this has proved beneficial in allowing me to receive the many reports and agendas electronically rather than in hard form. Tablets have proved a good medium for the sort of use elected members have. Most members however have not embraced this however.

I have now an appreciation of tablets that may see me buying one for my building inspection business. If this were to happen I certainly would not need one from council and I certainly would want it to be compatible with my notebook and phone, meaning it would not be an iPad.

This will be something for the new council to debate. If I am re-elected I will certainly be questioning the value of providing all this in a world where most of us have the equipment already.