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The Lansing Town Board Wednesday authorized Supervisor Kathy Miller to sign a cooperative/shared services agreement to establish a shared electronic records management system in Tompkins County.  On December 6th Lansing Town Clerk Debbie Crandall and Deputy Town Clerk Darlene Marshall attended a meeting with Tompkins County Clerk Aurora Valenti to review the county's paperless records program with an eye toward doing the same in Lansing.

"There are no files or file storage in any county office," Crandall told the board. "They have all been scanned.  The county has offered to help the towns to get a shared service grant."

Tompkins County's records were scanned by workers at Challenge Industries.  The Sheriff Department records were the last to be scanned, and that process is now complete.  Crandall says a grant to be part of the New York State Archive's Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund would eliminate all paper records the Town maintains.  The towns slated to participate are Lansing, Dryden, Enfield, Newfield, and Groton.

Lansing Town Clerk Debbie CrandallCurrent records are kept in the Clerk's office, while past municipal records are stored in the attic of the Town's historical archive building, next to the historic Field School in the Town Hall complex. 

"I've been working with Deputy County Clerk Maureen Reynolds, who is a Lansing resident," Crandall says.  "The first part that will be covered are the scanning of minutes and building permits."

Crandall says that the records will be stored on the Town's own servers.

"We can share them with the County, but they will be our records," she said.

The New York State Archives program recommends beginning with an inventory and an assessment of which paper records can legally be discarded.  The State also recommends software that can be used to index, search, and maintain the records once they have been scanned.  The program recommends organizing electronic records in a way that is similar to the way paper records are stored, and urges municipalities to increase their computer security and backup systems to protect electronic records.  Methods for preserving electronic records as technology advances are also recommended.

"I look forward to getting the Town Of Lansing paperless as the County is," Crandall said.

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