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County approves $95,000 transfer from Register of Deeds for countywide digital‑records preservation pilot
Summary
The committee approved transferring $95,000 from the Register of Deeds' restricted EDP/data-processing fund to the Office of Information Technology to fund a countywide digital‑preservation solution. The Register said funds come from recorded‑document fees (EDP fund) rather than general fund dollars and that the solution will address born‑digital
Murfreesboro — Rutherford County commissioners on Nov. 6 approved a $95,000 transfer from the Register of Deeds' restricted EDP/data‑processing fund to the county Office of Information Technology to advance a countywide digital‑preservation project.
Register of Deeds staff explained the funds are not county general funds but come from the EDP restricted fund established by a fee (the common $2 per recorded document) that the register administers and may use for data‑processing purposes. The register said the county has used that restricted fund to improve records management in the register's office and is now proposing to apply a portion of those resources to a shared preservation solution available to other county offices.
Product and purpose: Officials described the planned solution as a digital archive service intended to preserve born‑digital records and to provide long‑term access to records that never had a paper form or that are born digital and currently exist only in unstructured databases. The county and the state both use similar commercial products; presenters mentioned Preservica as an example of a platform that "ticks all the boxes" for preservation, access and migration needs.
Why it matters: County staff said a records preservation solution is increasingly necessary because many public records are created and remain in digital formats. The project aims to reduce long‑term costs for data migration, improve compliance with open‑records requests and centralize archival governance across departments.
Vote and next steps: The committee approved the transfer and referred implementation tasks to OIT and the records commission; the Register of Deeds and OIT will proceed with procurement and implementation steps and coordinate with other departments.
Provenance: The item begins at 01:42:07 in the meeting transcript and the vote and discussion end at 01:50:01.
Speakers quoted or referenced: Register of Deeds (unnamed) and Michael (county staff).
