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Illinois Municipal League Establishes Bulletin Boards on In this edition of the "Illinois Municipal Review" you will see an advertisement regarding LOCAL EXCHANGE. LOCAL EXCHANGE is provided through the National League of Cities, the International City Managers Association and Public Technology Incorporated as an electronic mail/data base/bulletin board service providing a variety of services; both information gathering and message sending. The Illinois Municipal League, in an effort to provide expanded and more timely information to its members, has established a state sub-net on LOCAL EXCHANGE consisting of two Bulletin Boards entitled "IMLNEWS" and "CITYCAL." One of the biggest problems that local officials face is the obtaining of information upon which to base decisions. LOCAL EXCHANGE provides a variety of databases through which searches can be made, gateways to other data bases such as Dow Jones, nationwide questioning capability (you put a message with your question on the network and answers are directed to your mailbox) and now, with the establishment of the Illinois Municipal League "IMLNEWS" and "CITYCAL", specific Illinois oriented information. Hopefully these sources will help you or your staff to find answers to the myriad of problems you encounter on a day to day basis. IMLNEWS is a bulletin board which will contain items such as the League's "Legislative Bulletin", usually printed and mailed on Friday but not received in your municipality until Monday, Tuesday or, in some instances, Wednesday. The "Legislative Bulletin" will be posted to IMLNEWS before the press is done rolling, usually by 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon. You will therefore be able to down load the latest "Legislative Bulletin" before it's even done being printed. During the time the General Assembly is in session, in addition to the "Legislative Bulletin" there will also be posted a daily "Status of Bills". This "Status of Bills" will provide the status of legislation (status such as 2nd reading, committee hearing, etc.) as it moves through the General Assembly. Additionally, newsletters, reports or "emergency calls" requesting your assistance with legislators or regulatory agencies regarding a pivotal vote or action will be posted on IMLNEWS. Almost anything that can be printed, can and may be posted to IMLNEWS so as to keep you informed in a timely manner. May 1990 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 7 CITYCAL is a calendar. It is the League's intent to post all meetings, seminars, conferences, workshops or any other type of "happening" that could possibly be of interest to municipal officials. Then anytime you are trying to obtain information on a specific topic, CITYCAL can be reviewed for a workshop, conference, etc. on the topic and you can then directly contact the party conducting the "happening" for further information regarding participation or attendance. IMLNEWS and CITYCAL, as an Illinois Municipal League sub-net service of LOCAL EXCHANGE will provide your municipality and the League with expanded capabilities for communication and dissemination of information vital to municipal officials. We would urge that all municipalities subscribe to LOCAL EXCHANGE and in doing so, you will also have access to IMLNEWS and CITYCAL. To be able to use LOCAL EXCHANGE you will need hardware in the form of a personal computer with a modem along with communications software. The League's LOCIS (Local Government Computer and Information Service) program can provide both hardware and software. If LOCIS provides both hardware and software, or just software on a computer you already have, the League will provide addition assistance in programming your communications access and transferring down loaded items to word-processing. For further information please contact: LOCAL EXCHANGE, Kathryn Shane Page 8 / Illinois Municipal Review / May 1990 |
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