Council approves records‑imaging contract with Siri Systems for permanent records; staff describe scope and microfilm requirement

Long Beach authorized a contract with Siri Systems (through the New York State Industries for the Disabled preferred source) to scan and image approximately 1,100,000 pages of permanent or long‑term city records as part of a FEMA Sandy‑funded records preservation project.

Richard Siri, representing Siri Systems, told the council the quantity is 1.1 million images (pages scanned, duplex where applicable) at 300 dpi; large‑format plans will be output on 35mm microfilm while standard documents will be archived on 16mm microfilm as required for permanent record retention. "So 1,100,000 images, pages ... you're gonna get 1,100,000 images back," Siri said.

Staff said the digital images will be the working copies and that microfilm is being produced to satisfy New York State Archives requirements for permanent records and for long‑term disaster‑recovery storage. The vendor said PDFs and metadata will be delivered for import into the city's document management system and that many documents will be indexed by file series so users can search by the recorded metadata; Siri added that OCR services can be offered for searchability if the city requests it.

Council members asked about the project timeline, the OCR question and whether FEMA covers project overruns. Siri estimated the full project would take about 12 months, with microfilm processing adding time after scanning. City staff said they will confirm FEMA grant coverage for any potential overages and will prioritize which record series to scan first.

Staff also said the city had already completed an inventory and deaccessioned roughly two‑thirds of material earlier in the effort; the contract covers the remaining permanent or long‑term records stored at the auxiliary records facility.

The resolution to retain Siri Systems was included in the block vote and approved by the council.