Sutterfield Technologies and its representatives Richard and Timothy Sutterfield gave a presentation Thursday at the Columbia County Courthouse on preserving the records of the various county offices. Members of the Quorum Court, county officeholders, local businesses, and interested citizens attended to hear the proposal.
Currently, county records are being stored in locations as varied as the old sheriff's office to the County Annex building. Records are also being kept in the Courtroom on the third floor of the courthouse, which might have to be used for other purposes sometime in the future. Other records are kept in the various offices but are taking up room that could be better utilized for other purposes, such as providing more room for voting machines during elections. The condition of the records vary from excellent to poor, with records stored in places that are not common work areas in poorer condition than those kept in regular use, Sutterfield said.
Sutterfield spent three days in Columbia County in December and made his proposal based on the inventory of records he conducted at that time. In an overview of the project, Sutterfield estimated that approximately 6 million images from the four county offices included in an inventory of documents would need to be scanned.
"I wore two hats while I was here, my old school teacher's hat when I made the observations and provided the information to help in the decision making process for the project, and my sales guy hat because this is the business I'm in,” he said.
Digitizing records is part of their service, and Sutterfield mentioned a number of advantages to digitizing.
Deterioration problem is solved.
Records can be more easily retrieved.
More than one person at a time can access records.
Allows the safe storage of original records with no exposure to light or handling.
Original records are safe from a natural or man-made disaster.
Sutterfield recommended that some of the documents that cannot be absent from the county due to frequency of use be scanned on-site and scanning equipment would be brought to the courthouse and other locations. The size and weight of some documents would preclude them being moved. The records that require more storage and are used infrequently would be taken off-site to a secure location to be scanned. The proposal projected that slightly more than half the documents could be scanned off-site at the Durant, Okla. facility. Off-site scanning would reduce the cost of the scanning process, Sutterfield mentioned. If needed, records could be located while in the process of being scanned.
Once the records have been scanned and digitized, they can be indexed, which would allow improved access and retrieval of records, allow the reclamation of valuable storage space as volume grows, and preserve original records. Indexing would save time and effort, and most offices in Columbia County already have software systems that can easily house the images and index the information produced by the project. The current software provider for the county offices, Dynamic Information Solutions Company out of Little Rock, has worked with Sutterfield in the past and the systems are compatible, John Drury of DISC stated. "There wouldn't be an issue with importing the documents scanned by Sutterfield Technologies into our system,” Drury said.
A contract for the services without having to take bids would be used for the project, and the overall estimated cost would be $1.7 million. "This is a large project,” Sutterfield explained, "but there is nothing challenging so far as the technology is concerned."
The success of such a project rests with the county, and officials would need to be in contact with the company, and check the quality and accuracy of the work as it proceeded, Sutterfied said. The first scanning would be of those items deemed most important, those used the most, and the records most in jeopardy.
Circuit Clerk Phyllis Disotell said the county would apply for grants from various entities to help offset the costs of the program, and that she had a goal for record-keeping for Columbia County. "With today's technology, every record belonging to the citizens of Columbia County should be kept safe, and in case of disaster be easily recovered. We are prepared to restore this building in case of disaster, but we are not equipped to replicate the important records of the county. We also need to utilize the Internet to recoup revenue."
Other goals Disotell has set include a better filing system that can house records electronically, and the purchase of fire-proof filing cabinets. "My dream is to open the north and south doors to the courthouse, and I truly feel that there would be no reason that this could not be done."