Commissioners approve records preservation plan, authorize scanning projects and a salary supplement

The county clerk (or clerk's office representative) explained the county's records management and preservation plan and asked commissioners to continue allocating the $10 recording fee into archival and preservation funds to support digitization and staffing.

The clerk said the $10 fee charged on recordings and land records funds two accounts used for archival work and records management, explaining that roughly $50,000 a year goes into each the archival and preservation funds. The presenter said they budgeted $58,000 for preservation work in the coming year, with $48,000 covering an ongoing scanning project begun in fiscal 24-25 and an additional $10,000 available for equipment and furniture if needed.

The presentation described an existing land-records scanning and indexing project that costs roughly $200,000 and is being paid over a three-year term; the clerk said the county plans to complete probate index scanning with a vendor (US Imaging) and will make digital copies available to the public and to the state's LGS system. The clerk also requested a $4,000 supplemental salary for the chief deputy clerk to assist with preservation duties. "My goal is to get all of our records online," the clerk said.

A motion to approve the records management and preservation plan was made and carried.