Council authorizes contract to digitize city records; staff cites ARPA funding

The Dalles City Council on Sept. 9 authorized the city manager to enter a professional services agreement to digitize historical and current city records.

City Clerk presented a staff report recommending Pacific Ally LLC, d/b/a DocuDriven, after a vendor selection process and sample-box review. Staff said documents to be scanned include council journals, ordinances and other records dating back to the 1800s and explained the project will both safeguard fragile originals and make typed records searchable in the city's ORMS database.

Funding and contract amount: Staff said the adopted FY24-25 budget contains a line item for the digitalization project (cited as $193,027) and stated the vendor contract on the staff report would not exceed $162,150.30. During the motion sequence the recorded motion language referenced an amount of $1,162,150.30; council approved the motion by voice vote. The discrepancy in the motion language and the staff-reported "not to exceed" figure was recorded on the meeting transcript and requires clarification from staff and the city clerk (see audit note).

Project scope and timeline: City Clerk said the work would begin with city clerk records and aim to complete that phase in October, then move through legal (November), finance, planning, airport and public works with completion estimated by April 2025. DocuDriven representatives introduced themselves and confirmed technical capacity and sample-quality results.

What happens next: The city manager will execute the agreement and staff will implement the scanning plan. The clerk said permanent historical records older than the 1920s are required to be retained unless the state archivist authorizes destruction; staff said digital copies will be preserved but permanent originals will be retained per retention law.

Ending: Council approved the authorization by voice vote and thanked vendor representatives for attending the meeting.