Independence Township Clerk Shelagh VanderVeen said she will sleep better at night knowing township records are safe, electronically.
‘That was one of the concerns and has been an ongoing one for me ever since I was elected,? she said. ‘What if, God forbid, this building should burn down or we had a flood or some type of catastrophe and all of our documents were lost??
The board voted unanimously Dec. 15 to approve a record retention program, with setup cost of $400, $300 monthly, and $40 a month for five gigabytes of storage. DSS Corporation of Southfield hosts the web-based program.
‘They’re the ones who back up our documents and ensure they are safe. They have them in two different locations so there is a redundancy,? VanderVeen said. ‘The beauty with this is that it’s a month-to-month lease, we are not locked into any long term lease.?
Jim Hopkinson from DSS performed a ‘needs analysis? about two years ago, talking to department directors about work flow and ways to simplify tasks as well as eliminate paper-based processes.
‘That’s Jim’s mantra, ‘use the data not the paper,?” she said. ‘That’s what he says all the time and that’s what we want to do.?
VanderVeen said they had a good start when they went to the ‘paperless agenda? almost three years ago.
‘There is a mindset with the people of ‘oh, let me make a copy of that for you? instead of ‘I’ll forward it to you or I’ll e-mail it to you,?” she said. ‘Those kinds of things I’d like to get away from.?
Project Manager Rita Heady said they will never be able to go ‘completely paperless? because of the requirement by law to keep original signed documents.
‘We’ll have one original copy with a copy retained on the system so if somebody needs to use it to access it for whatever reason, they can,? she said. “The original (paper copy) can be put away and archived.?
As a web-based system, VanderVeen said everyone who works for the township will have access to all files.
‘It’s not a big electronic file cabinet. It’s more than that. It’s moving documents throughout departments and having access,? she said. ‘Say the treasurer’s department needs to see a purchase order, he (Treasurer Curt Carson) doesn’t have to come down and say to the accounts payable clerk ‘I need to see this.? He’ll have access to that electronic file.?
VanderVeen and Heady said they hope to bring the retention program ‘in-house? at some point in the future, but the cost would be $50,000-$60,000.
‘With budget constraints, we were trying to come up with a way that made good use of township monies, without having to bring on added hardware or man-hours,? Heady said.
VanderVeen said DSS will start training in early January. They will start with the clerk, finance, treasurer and assessing departments.