Travis County Commissioners Court
August 31, 2004
Item 36
Let's pull up item number 36. It is consider and take appropriate action
on request to eye proof the county clerk's f.y. '05 plans for the following:
a, county clerk's records management and preservation. B, county clerk's records
archive. It may help to briefly describe what the plan is for '05 just so
our public will know.
>> [inaudible] I’m just going to be up here if there's any
questions on the budget side.
>> hi, susan dowell, Travis County clerk's office. What we
have here is the written plans for the '02 records management fund and the
'05-7 7 archives fund. Both of these items have been considered as part of
our budget package and are included in the preliminary budget ao s. Some of
the items that these funds are being used for have to do with probably the
main expense has to do with taking our microfilm images, converting them to
digital images and creating actual indexes to allow for a quick retrieval
and safe preservation of the records. In part we're working with straoef rowburg's
office to do the section of of those records. We're also working for a company
here in town to do another portion of those records. And a third portion which
is going to be very difficult has to do with the conversion of actual handwritten
records, which will be the final phase of the project. This money is given
on a five-year plan by the legislature, and we expect for hopefully to get
a bulk of the project done, but we're still going to probably come up short.
We're still receiving data on how quickly and at what price they are going
to be able to divert it, but we believe it's going to take all of the funds
and then some to do it. The rest of the funds are being used for staff persons
related to records management. In our office we are working, again, with steve
rowburg's office to provide a portion of his salary and we are also continuing
the salary for the computer person in the district clerk's office.
>> so for the average Travis County resident, why are these
steps important?
>> well, we have about 30 million images or 30 million documents
in different stages. Some of them are old and on paper and need to be preserved
and protected. The rest of them, there's a bulk of them that are indexed only
by handwritten indexes that need to be converted over to automated indexes
so they can be found and kept up with and retrieved for public use whenever
necessary.
>> okay. And by law is Travis County required to keep many,
many records for many years it's a permanent library for -- yes. And our records
go back to the 1800's.
>> and this money comes from the actual filing of cases.
There's a little piece of the filing fee that is put into a dedicated fund
that is used for these purposes here.
>> that's correct.
>> okay. It's crystal clear to me.
>> move approval of item 36-a and b.
>> I have one question. Can you explain to me the county
clerks operating budget under the computer and equipment. Is that any way,
the computer and software, is that any way tied into our i.g.s. Approach to
make sure that we use hard war and software that ensure they are compatible
with whichever direction we are determining to go on a county-wide basis.
Could you explain that to me, please?
>> are you talking about the new purchases we're planning
for this year?
>> yes, the county clerk's operating deem. I just want to
see under that particular scenario, the 82,150 and also the other one 77,000,
can you tell me on that computer hardware and soflt wear, is it competitive
-- in other words, did you [inaudible] test of purchases.
>> any purchases we make have to be approved by i.t.s. So
at some left they are reviewed by i.t.s. The equipment we are looking at for
this particular year is more of add-ons or different pieces and parts to an
existing system. We're not looking for any new systems and the request we
are proposing this year. For example, we were asking for additional disk space
on an additional system. Asking for funds to allow the conversion of the data
from the company that's doing a section of the imaging and indexing of documents
so put it on our existing system. As far as I know, i.t.s. And joe would be
familiar with this and signed off out. I don't know of anything that would
be a controversial matter.
>> normally we've got to ensure that happens whenever we
go out and purchase things of that nature, we try to run it by joe holland
to make sure they know what's going on. That's county property.
>> we always try and work with them and make sure it's a
coordinated effort.
>> okie-doke. Thank you.
>> any budget issues of which we should be aware?
>> no, sir, everything is recommended by p.b.o. In the preliminary
budget that's included in this plan and both funds still have healthy allocated
preserves and we expect to it continue growing so they can finish their projects
over the next three years.
>> and like steven who used to be funded by the general fund
who has switched over to being funded by the special funds because that's
really where his job is, also maintenance agreements as well that could have
been under the i.t.s. Umbrella, but they are being cooked up by the -- [inaudible].
>> dana, did we miss anything you could cover in about 30
seconds?
>> no, they've done a fine job. Thank you very much. I apologize
for the laryngitis.
>> any more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous
vote.
>> thank you a thank you very much.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified: Thursday, October 27, 2005 11:00 AM