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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRMAB Minutes 2021-01-01 Town of Ithaca Records Management Advisory Board Agenda – Memo – July 14th at 3p.m. https://zoom.us/j/99490284303 1. Where we are: We have successfully checked and disposed of the building permit files that were authorized by the Records Destruction Authorization Form in February. In 2018 the town authorized, among others, the destruction of minutes from a number of boards and committees prior to the miscommunication/interpretation of the guidelines. That destruction had begun back then and we are now left with incomplete hard copy record series for the Town Board and Planning Board minutes. Sandy has been going through each of the PB minutes to verify and fix anything found. Becky and I will do the Town Board series. I would like to complete the destruction of post 1950 minutes of those boards and committees that we had begun, following the adopted verification procedure. Records Destruction Authorization Form attached. 2. Next step for thought The most common request we receive is for building permits, drawings, and complaints/violations from realtors and people looking to purchase a certain house or having purchased a house recently. These are all scanned, verified and available on Laserfische right now for in-house use and when someone requests them, we simply “print” the folder as a pdf and send it to them. I would like to make those folders public. If we hand them out, what is the difference? A question the last time was around privacy – again, these are public documents and the COOG has opined that there is no expectation of privacy when you submit a document to the town and with the internet and the multiple ways to find someone’s address, email, etc., there is no need to redact information. We do not do that now and never have. Another question was about security systems. I asked that of Bruce and Steve back then and none could remember a house having security installations in the building permits, so I think that is a moot point. This request isn’t so much to avoid the task of supplying BP’s to people, but to enable people looking on weekends or after hours who work themselves to be able to research for themselves the information available on a property they may be interested in. In fact, with our new OpenGov system, they will also know to look for any easements and, I believe, the zoning or planning conditions applied to the site. We have many people who purchase houses only to find that they didn’t research enough and there is an obstacle either by easement, encroachment or zoning to what they had envisioned doing. I would like to also reach out to the County Health Department and get any documents on sewer systems to also have available for people in one place. I think this will be in invaluable tool for residents and home buyers. Town of Ithaca Records Management Advisory Board Agenda – Memo – Friday, September 17th at 4p.m. https://zoom.us/j/99490284303 1. Where we are: We have successfully checked and disposed of the majority of the building permit files that were authorized by the Records Destruction Authorization Form in February. In 2018 the town authorized, among others, the destruction of minutes from a number of boards and committees prior to the miscommunication/interpretation of the guidelines. That destruction had begun, and we are reviewing and verifying all remaining records series according to the subsequently adopted policy and procedures. 2. Next step for thought The most common request we receive is for building permits, complaint/violations and general property files from realtors and people looking to purchase a certain house. These are all scanned, verified and available on Laserfische right now for in-house use. When a person requests the record(s) we simply “print” the folder as a pdf and send it to them. I would like to make those folders public. If we hand them out, what is the difference? A question the last time was around privacy – again, these are public documents and the COOG has opined that there is no expectation of privacy when you submit a document to the town and with the internet and the multiple ways to find someone’s address, email, etc., there is no need to redact information. We do not redact anything and never have. Another question was about security systems. I asked that of Bruce and Steve back then and none could remember a house having security installations in the building permits, so I think that is a moot point. If it does come up, we can address it on a case by case basis and make a notation in the permit to reach out to the RMO for Restricted/Owner only information. This request isn’t to avoid the task, but to enable people looking on weekends or after hours to be able to research information on a property they may be interested in when it is convenient for them. In fact, with our new OpenGov system, they will also know to look for any easements and with enhanced eCode, they can get the zoning and codes that apply to a particular property. We have many people who purchase houses only to find that they didn’t research enough and there is an obstacle to what they had envisioned or even counted on doing with the property; either by an easement, an encroachment or a zoning restriction they were unaware of, or, honestly, that was misrepresented by the seller/agent. I would like to also reach out to the County Health Department and get any documents on private sewer systems to also have available for people in one place. I think this will be an invaluable tool for residents and home buyers. 3. Pre-1950 documents We need to start thinking about if and how we want to scan pre-1950 documents. We have the vault and they could simply stay there and I can catalog where they are for easy retrieval, or, there are companies who specialize in digitizing these documents, and we could still keep them on hand as historical archives in perpetuity while having them accessible to those history buffs who want to see them. Other We got off schedule for a variety of reasons, but the next meeting would be December 17th at 4. I would like to discuss an alternate day and time. Fridays at 4pm really are not ideal. Since this would essentially be a wrap up of the year and a preview of next, my suggestion is Thursday, December 16th at noon. Thoughts? Town of Ithaca Records Management Advisory Board Notes - Friday, September 17th at 4p.m. Present: Paulette, Rod, Eric and David The group decided to move forward with making the property files public, when asked, as a 6- month trial and revisit in March quarterly meeting to discuss any concerns raised by staff or the public. Paulette will begin to reach out to vendors for cost estimates and processes for scanning pre1950 Town Board Minutes. Youth worker completed 85% of the verification of permits filed and the boxes were disposed of. A second youth worker will begin soon to scan large drawings. Next Meeting will be December 17th at noon. Memo/Agenda 1. Where we are: We have successfully checked and disposed of the majority of the building permit files that were authorized by the Records Destruction Authorization Form in February. In 2018 the town authorized, among others, the destruction of minutes from a number of boards and committees prior to the miscommunication/interpretation of the guidelines. That destruction had begun, and we are reviewing and verifying all remaining records series according to the subsequently adopted policy and procedures. 2. Next step for thought The most common request we receive is for building permits, complaint/violations and general property files from realtors and people looking to purchase a certain house. These are all scanned, verified and available on Laserfische right now for in-house use. When a person requests the record(s) we simply “print” the folder as a pdf and send it to them. I would like to make those folders public. If we hand them out, what is the difference? A question the last time was around privacy – again, these are public documents and the COOG has opined that there is no expectation of privacy when you submit a document to the town and with the internet and the multiple ways to find someone’s address, email, etc., there is no need to redact information. We do not redact anything and never have. Another question was about security systems. I asked that of Bruce and Steve back then and none could remember a house having security installations in the building permits, so I think that is a moot point. If it does come up, we can address it on a case by case basis and make a notation in the permit to reach out to the RMO for Restricted/Owner only information. This request isn’t to avoid the task, but to enable people looking on weekends or after hours to be able to research information on a property they may be interested in when it is convenient for them. In fact, with our new OpenGov system, they will also know to look for any easements and with enhanced eCode, they can get the zoning and codes that apply to a particular property. We have many people who purchase houses only to find that they didn’t research enough and there is an obstacle to what they had envisioned or even counted on doing with the property; either by an easement, an encroachment or a zoning restriction they were unaware of, or, honestly, that was misrepresented by the seller/agent. I would like to also reach out to the County Health Department and get any documents on private sewer systems to also have available for people in one place. I think this will be an invaluable tool for residents and home buyers. 3. Pre-1950 documents We need to start thinking about if and how we want to scan pre-1950 documents. We have the vault and they could simply stay there and I can catalog where they are for easy retrieval, or, there are companies who specialize in digitizing these documents, and we could still keep them on hand as historical archives in perpetuity while having them accessible to those history buffs who want to see them. Other We got off schedule for a variety of reasons, but the next meeting would be December 17th at 4. I would like to discuss an alternate day and time. Fridays at 4pm really are not ideal. Since this would essentially be a wrap up of the year and a preview of next, my suggestion is Thursday, December 16th at noon. Thoughts?