News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:	Tuesday, March 3, 1998
Contact:	ARTHUR GITAJN, DIRECTOR, F&ITS, (703) 838-6420; TOM BRANNAN, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER; (703) 838-4300; BILL COLE, DIRECTOR, ITS, (703) 838-4950

Alexandria City Council Docket Materials Available On-Line

Citizen access to the Alexandria City Council’s legislative and public hearing dockets has been greatly enhanced with the recent activation of the City’s new Docket Storage and Retrieval (DSR) System.

As of February 24, current Alexandria City Council docket materials are now available on-line at the same time that these materials are made available in the City Clerk’s office. The system is accessed through the City’s web page at http://ci.alexandria.va.us by clicking on the button entitled "Press Releases, Policy Documents, City Council Dockets, Planning Commission, BZA and BAR Agendas" and selecting "City Council Dockets."

The Docket Storage and Retrieval System operates 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and enables users to view:

the City Council Docket, which serves as the agenda of items to be considered by City Council at upcoming legislative or public hearing meetings;
the Action Docket, which reflects actions taken by City Council on each docket item;
the Meeting Minutes, which provide a detailed description of Council’s discussion on each item; and
associated docket memoranda, including any supporting attachments, such as maps, ordinances and resolutions.
The DSR system also provides a powerful facility for searching Meeting Minutes and retrieving City Council docket materials. Currently, users can search and retrieve materials for calendar year 1998. When the system is complete, users will be able to search the docket materials for Fiscal Years 1992 through 1998 for the occurrence of a particular word or phrase.

Dockets, Action Dockets and Meeting Minutes can be viewed through a web browser. An image viewer capable of reading Group 4 TIFF (*.tif) images is needed to view the attached docket item materials. The current version of Windows 95 includes a TIFF image viewer. For earlier versions of Windows 95 or other operating systems, demo or trial versions of image viewers are available from a number of websites, including Netscape.

Additional information pertaining to the Docket Storage and Retrieval System, including development history, technical information, and detailed search and retrieval instructions, is available online at the City’s website (http://ci.alexandria.va.us).