Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, September 07, 2021
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER ADOPTING RESOLUTION NO. 21-119 AUTHORIZING THE USE OF DIGITAL SIGNATURES AND NOTARIZED ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES FOR CITY CONTRACTS (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
The City Council is being asked to adopt Resolution No. 21-119, which will allow City contracts to be executed electronically and sometimes, digitally provided certain requirements are satisfied. The terms "digital signature" and "facsimile signature" are types of "electronic signatures." The City Council has already approved a contract with Docusign for providing the software that facilitates the use of electronic signatures. That contract has been fully executed and staff has been in the process of implementing use of the software by training the appropriate staff members and generally addressing Department organizational matters in anticipation of its use. Use of electronic signatures will increase the speed and operational efficiency of the City's contracting process.
Except as otherwise prohibited by law and so long as the contracting parties mutually agree, adoption of Resolution No. 21-119 would allow City contracts to be executed "electronically" provided the contracts are duly notarized. However, digital signatures would not need to be notarized due to the inherent signature verification technology utilized for such signatures.
Resolution No. 21-119 would go into effect immediately upon rescission of City Council Resolution No. 20-053 provided that the local COVID-19 emergency declared under such Resolution will have been lifted. This is because Resolution No. 20-053 and the Disaster Council's actions taken subsequent to its adoption have waived all notary and original signature requirements on City contracts thereby rendering the current allowances more permissive than what will be allowed under Resolution No. 21-119.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
WAIVE further reading and APPROVE Resolution ...
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