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Resident offers volunteer plan to digitize Brentwood records, board to consider records subcommittee
Summary
A volunteer proposed inventorying and digitizing decades of town records, addressing OCR/search issues and enabling online permitting; board members discussed vault access, records retention rules under NH RSA, and formation of a subcommittee to scope the work.
A resident volunteer told the Select Board he can audit and begin digitizing the town’s records to make older documents searchable and to support future online permitting, but warned the work could take "hundreds or thousands of hours."
The volunteer (George) outlined an initial proposal to inventory files, fix OCR issues that made older records unsearchable, and recommend options for retroactive digitization (roughly a three‑year period was discussed). He said the work would not include deletions or changes: the effort would be an inventory and classification for the board to act on. George offered his expertise pro bono and said he had already taken steps to address OCR problems in coordination with the town clerk.
Board members raised governance and logistics: vault access requires a town official present, retention schedules must comply with New Hampshire RSAs, and any significant scanning project could require a subcommittee and clear policies for who may handle sensitive nonpublic minutes. Staff and trustees noted the undertaking would not be a single‑person job and recommended reviving a records committee to scope resources and oversight.
The Select Board encouraged the volunteer to coordinate with the town administrator and suggested staff will follow up to discuss committee structure and the project timeline.
