David R. Roefaro, Mayor

City of Utica, New York

City of Utica Receives Grant for Records Management

Will Fund Plan for Record Sharing Between

Codes, Economic Development, and County Health Departments

Utica, NY (August 28, 2008) – The City of Utica announced today that it has received a $28,000 grant from the New York State Archives to fund a plan for a shared records management program for The City of Utica Codes, and Urban & Economic Development Departments in partnership with The Oneida County Health Department.

The funding will be used on a needs assessment and implementation plan to access and track required information regarding codes violations; fulfill an increasing number of F.O.I.L. and e-discovery requests; and exercise professional records management practices. There is currently no practical way to share data, resulting in massive duplication, expense and inefficiencies to the City and the County.

"The volume of paper records we create and store, combined with the staff time required to maintain and retrieve them has really made effective, professional records management nearly impossible," commented City Codes Commissioner Goran Smilijic.

The City of Utica Corporation Council, Fire, and Police Departments currently utilize and maintain separate records management programs, which include some of the same information. But with no practical way to share data, the current situation results in massive delays, duplication, expense, and inefficiencies to the City and the County.

Due to the scope of the proposed project, the first step toward a solution is a professional needs assessment. This study will provide the blueprint for constructing a records management program with a scalable infrastructure, which will enable the City of Utica to more effectively and efficiently manage the large volume of records under its care.

The City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Needs Assessment Survey in January 2008. The total project budget is $28,000, which the State grant funds will pay for entirely. The successful low-bidder, Access Systems, will begin the comprehensive needs assessment and develop an implementation plan based on its findings within the next month. The firm has in-depth, wide-ranging experience in technology and records management, and is headquartered in Syracuse, NY.

"The main things were Access Systems' references and experience with successfully conducting similar projects for other municipalities throughout New York and New Jersey", said City Clerk and Records Management Officer Joan Brenon. She added, "Since they are not a hardware or software vendor, Access Systems had the most unbiased and independent approach."

Once the needs assessment is done, the City and County can proceed with implementing its recommendations. Specifically, this project will result in the following major changes or outcomes:

ü      Full compliance with all reporting requirements of New York State Codes Chapter XXXII, the Department of Health, and other regulatory bodies

ü      An integrated standard for both document management and records management between the involved City and County departments

ü      An enhanced ability to respond to an increasing number of time-consuming F.O.I.L. and e-discovery requests

ü      The production of a survey (paper and electronic) of existing real property records

ü      Adherence to records retention and destruction procedures, schedules and requirements within the Codes Department

ü      Enhanced information security and better privacy protection

ü      The development of a sound implementation plan that will provide a roadmap for targeting future investment in records management for the City of Utica

Mayor Roefaro sees this grant as the first step in becoming compliant with professional records management for the City of Utica. He said, "With this evaluation, we begin the first step in effective and sustainable records retention management. Upon completion, this evaluation will allow us to present a tangible plan to address records retention. I've been a strong advocate for addressing this matter, and those results begin today."