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Council approves Iron Mountain scanning contract after removing staff-organizing requirement
Summary
After debate over who should organize paper records, the North College Hill City Council voted unanimously to approve a contract with Iron Mountain to scan municipal records, removing a provision that would have required administrative staff to sort documents before scanning.
The North College Hill City Council on March 17 approved a contract with Iron Mountain Document Capture Services to scan city records, after amending the resolution to remove a requirement that city staff organize the files before scanning.
Council members said the city’s documents are currently in mixed condition — some in binders and others loose in cabinets — and that private scanning firms would not accept them without some level of organization. Council amended the resolution to remove language obligating administration to perform that organization and then adopted the contract as amended by a 7-0 vote.
The amendment was prompted by staff and council concerns about overtime and workload. City Clerk Hedger told the council that private firms would likely scan all pages into one large file unless the documents were first sorted and separated. “If they did such thing, the way I believe they would do it is it would be 1 giant document,” Hedger said during the discussion.
Council Member Underwood moved to strike the clause requiring administration to organize the records; the motion passed 7-0. After the amendment, Council Member Zorbe moved to adopt the amended resolution; the adoption passed unanimously.
Council members volunteered to help organize records so that scanning can proceed; several said they would schedule a weekend work session to begin sorting. Hedger said the practical expectation was to separate resolutions and ordinances and group documents roughly by year before sending boxes to Iron Mountain.
The resolution as adopted removes the administrative-organization mandate and authorizes the contract with Iron Mountain. Council members discussed logistics including the condition of some documents (file cabinets, loose boxes) and the possibility of using volunteers or council members to do the initial sorting rather than requiring paid staff overtime.
The contract had been discussed earlier in budget and finance committee meetings and council members emphasized coordinating the Saturday organizing session in advance so volunteers' schedules and facility access (key fobs) would be confirmed.
Votes at a glance: Council adopted the amended Iron Mountain contract, 7-0.
What happens next: Council and staff will schedule organizing sessions to prepare records for scanning and then deliver boxes to the vendor under the approved contract.
