Selectboard OKs $395/year Shelter Manager subscription for Animal Control records
Summary
The Selectboard authorized an annual Shelter Manager subscription to centralize Animal Control incident records and support public‑records requests; the board also flagged the need to clarify video retention policies for body‑camera footage.
The Town of Sharon Selectboard authorized purchase of Shelter Manager software for Animal Control at an annual subscription cost of $395, approving the motion 2‑0‑0 with Selectboard Chair Scott Henkels absent.
Animal Control Officer Jim Armbruster told the board he has been using Google for records keeping and finds that system slow and cumbersome when responding to public records requests. "This is a way to improve the Town’s ability to retrieve data for records requests as well as increase capacity," Armbruster said, describing Shelter Manager as a centralized solution that can accept past data and allow multiple town users to access organized incident records.
Treasurer/Interim Finance Manager Deb Jones and Town Administrator Nicola Shipman participated in a brief discussion about record retention. Shipman noted the Town is drafting a records retention policy and flagged that body‑camera video files may have different retention requirements, potentially aligning with law‑enforcement rules. Armbruster said he would check whether Shelter Manager supports video downloads.
The board’s vote authorized the annual subscription; no funding source beyond the annual subscription amount was specified during the discussion. Nicola Shipman will continue work on a townwide records retention policy that will clarify storage and access for larger digital files such as videos.
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