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Lebanon council approves $53,300 to digitize planning records
Summary
At its Feb. 24 meeting, the Lebanon City Council approved $53,300 from the non-reverting fund to contract Document Mountain to scan and host historical planning records so they become searchable and easier for staff and the public to access.
At its Feb. 24 meeting, the Lebanon City Council approved a $53,300 appropriation from the planning department’s non-reverting fund to contract with Document Mountain to scan and host historical planning records.
The funding will cover scanning, upfront hosting costs and delivery of searchable PDF files for decades of planning and zoning materials, Councilmember Christy Spencer said during the presentation to the council. "We need to find a more permanent storage for these records and also, in a format that is searchable so that we can find the information when we need it," Spencer said.
The planning department described roughly 10 filing cabinets of historic building permits, plans, surveys, Board of Zoning Appeals records and Planning Commission documents that have been moved multiple times over the past 20 years. The vendor demonstrated high-resolution PDF scans, the department said; one councilmember asked whether the proposed product was microfiche, and Spencer replied, "No, it's not. It is actually a PDF document that they will create... it's a very high quality scan. It looks better than the original, almost."
Council discussion emphasized that the records are public and that digitization would reduce staff time spent searching paper files. Spencer said the planning department would act as a pilot for the service; the city could later offer the service to other departments, with additional per-page charges for any other office that chooses to participate.
There was no public comment on the item. A council motion to approve the $53,300 appropriation carried unanimously.
The planning department and the clerk-treasurer’s office will be responsible for arranging delivery of the scanned files and for providing public access on request until an online public-viewing access point is set up.
