As I noted earlier, I am traveling for work every week for the time being and have to miss the council meetings. I am trying to catch up via recordings as I have time between work and killing my laptop last week. Here are the notes from the study session on Jan. 19th - where US Archiving presented their proposal to digitize all the town's documents. Thanks for your patience! ~ Karen
All elected officials were present, with Council Member Hedrick arriving late. Mayor Hopkins noted that no one from the public was at the meeting (at least when it began). The town is looking for solutions to the many public information requests and ways to streamline document storage. US Archiving was recommended by AWC. They have studied the town for several weeks and made this proposal to meet current and future needs.
This proposed system would allow access to meeting minutes, meeting recordings, planning documents and more. Two options were presented to digitize all town documents and an on-line option to access the documents (rather than have them stored on a computer at town hall).
US Archives has software that will automatically redact sensitive information like social security numbers from the documents they scan. They can set up the system so only authorized people can see certain documents, and will track who sees what document when. There is an email/fax function to send the document rather than just print it. There are some savings potential by having volunteers prepare the documents for scanning by removing staples, etc. As the documents are scanned, duplicate copies are eliminated. The system has search capabilities for any word in the document.
With the on-line storage option, both the public and staff can access documents from home - saving time and consultant costs. The document retrieval system can be linked to the town web page for the public to view some documents.
US Archives estimates 35,000 images for Ruston right now (85 boxes plus planning documents, maps, etc.). The general cost is about $250 per box, which includes document prep and indexing. The initial training is estimated to cost $15,000. There is some savings if the town prepays and commits to multiple years. Council Member Hardin mentioned a preliminary cost estimate of $66,000 for the whole system.
Town planner Rob White then provided input on his work with US Archives over recent weeks as they experimented with this system in Ruston. He was very supportive, noting that is saves a great deal of his time (which is charged at an hourly rate) and makes the storage, retrieval and sharing of documents much easier. Rob demonstrated how the system works for the council.
Council Member Kristovich wanted to know what would happen if the town decided they didn't like US Archiving in a year and wanted to use someone else. Since everything is backed up at town hall, the town is free to use whatever service they want at the end of each contract period. The council and mayor will have access to a trial account to experiment with until they make their decision.
The study session adjourned at about 7 pm.
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