Archives Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes
Washington State Library
Room 221
1:00 pm. – 3:00 p.m.
Point Plaza East, Building 1
6880 Capitol Way S
Olympia, WA
January 13, 2005
Members Present:
Jerry Handfield, State Archivist
Cathy Turk, Secretary of State’s Office
Scott Sackett, State Archives – Local Government Records Management Trainer
Susan Alden, State Archives - Records Management
Bob Terwilliger, Snohomish County Auditor
Greg Mennegar, Imaging & Preservation Manager
Scott Furman, Okanogan County Assessor
Tracy Shawa, Pacific County Assessor
Sheryle Wyatt, Tumwater City Clerk
Mike Killian, Franklin County Clerk
Judy Arnold, Thurston County Coroner
Victoria Lincoln, Association of Washington Cities
Brenda Bamford, Washington Association of County Officials
Committee Chair Bob Terwilliger called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. and asked everyone in the room to introduce themselves.
BUDGET REVIEW
Jerry Handfield asked Cathy Turk to review the budget requests and report on what was funded in Governor Locke’s budget.
Cathy Turk reported the following:
REQUESTED LOCKE’S PROPOSAL
Digital Archive Technology 1,343,000 1,343,000
Security Microfilm Project – Local 740,000 740,000
Records Management Training 88,000 88,000
Archives Processing & Operations 1,012,000 1,012,000
Grants to Local Government Agencies 371,000 300,000
(did not provide for a ½ time FTE)
Information Technology Capacity 1,155,000 0
K-12 CBA Requirements (History Day) 10,000 0
Cathy Turk stated that the Archives did very well in Governor Locke’s budget, and explained that the biggest budget obstacle is the lack of State General Fund Revenues.
Bob Terwilliger reported that he had spoken with Dan Speigle regarding the records split at the State Archives and would like to see the figure broken down further to determine of the local records, how many are county records?
Cathy Turk assured that those figures could be provided with little trouble.
GRANT PROGRAM UPDATE
Jerry Handfield reported that Sherry Bays was unable to make it to the meeting and had provided a written update for the committee which was handed out.
Sherry Bays report read as follows:
“The Archives Division has successfully implemented the Local Government Grant Program by working with the Archives Oversight Committee and awarded grants to 22 local government agencies out of 65 applications received (34%) in the 2003-05 biennium.
Currently three agencies have completed their projects. Attached to this summary is a spreadsheet outlining the status of all the grants after receiving the 2nd interim report. This report triggers the next award payment of 20% with the final report due in June releasing the final 20%. To date there have been no significant problems in any of the grants. Agencies have found savings in many areas after beginning work on their projects and have requested and been approved to change their budgets to reflect that. Also of special interest is the fact that most of the agencies doing microfilm projects (approximately 83%) found that the Imaging Services Department in the State Archives offered the best pricing.
In the proposed 2005-07 budget submitted by Governor Locke the grants funding will be increased to $500,000. The added $300,000 in funding will allow for approximately 25 additional local grant projects, for a total of 47 projects. Enhancing the grants program will allow additional local agencies to implement effective records management programs, records inventory and retention scheduling projects, essential records, protection plans, disaster preparedness plans, records technology upgrade plans, and to replace or recover damaged records, making public records readily available.
In addition to increased grant authority, a ½ time Grant Administrator position was requested but not included in the submitted budget. The ½ time position was intended to assist agencies in the application process, monitor expenditures, monitor the progress of local grant projects and contract compliance, review interim and final reports, share project results and best practices with other local government agencies, serve as a resource to the Oversight Committee for grant program progress reports and input on priorities, and provide grant application training to help local government agencies put together successful and competitive proposals. State Archivist, Jerry Handfield is looking at other options to possibly fund a portion of this position with a new FTE proposed in the Records Management Division. It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to administer this program at the Eastern Regional Branch due to the increased activity associated with the opening of the new Archives building. Many agencies are now preparing to transfer their records that they have housed elsewhere over the past 10 years. I am hopeful that arrangements can be worked out to transfer this responsibility. I appreciate the opportunity to have been involved in the development and implementation of this historic program in the State of Washington. It was a huge responsibility that I was happy to take on. I will work closely with the person who will be taking the program over to insure that it continues to be the success that it has become.
Work is underway developing the next guidebook for the 2005-2007 biennium. A subcommittee was formed to look at creating a streamlined grant application for projects that address a single request, i.e. microfilming a record series, purchasing shelving, or equipment to enhance records preservation with a dollar limit of $5,000 to $7,000 (to be decided). This would be in addition to the regular grant application process that addresses more complex requests”
BUSINESS PLAN UPDATE
Cathy Turk reported that there was no change from the report given at the October 2004 meeting. Cathy provided those members who were not present at that meeting with copies of the business plan.
The 2005-2007 Secretary of State Strategic Plan includes the following goals for the Archives and Records Management Division.
Goal #1: To secure the legal and archival records of the state of Washington, to make them available for reference and scholarship, and to insure their proper preservation.
Goal #2: Provide for the security of essential information and the preservation of irreplaceable legal and historical archival documents through the application of imaging, conservation, technology standards and services.
Goal #3: Coordinate the efficient management, protection, and integrity of public information assets held by state and local government agencies.
Goal #4: Increase, improve and promote public access to the state’s legal and historical archival records.
SECURITY MICROFILM UPDATE
Greg Mennegar reported on the status of the security microfilm project and outlined the significant accomplishments of the Archives:
1) Incoming inspection continues to remain current within two weeks.
2) Additional temporary staff hired for inspection and data entry (1 for data entry, 2 for inspection).
3) Decision package for project to eliminate inspection backlog and to pay for ongoing polyester duplication of incoming film included in Governor Locke’s budget and submitted to the Legislature.
4) New Security Microfilm Vault to be constructed in March/April.
5) Pilot project underway for film reparation project
6) New charts available for tracking project progress
2005 LEGISLATION
Bob Terwilliger reported that the Auditors Association was putting forth legislation again in 2005 that would restrict social security numbers, birthdates and a mother’s maiden name from being included in a document being presented for recording.
The other piece of legislation the county auditors are bringing forward,, and is also a WACO priority is increasing the O & M fee from $2 to $5. The fee has not been increased since 1989.
MISCELLANEOUS
Jerry Handfield introduced Scott Sackett as the new Local Government Records Management Trainer.
Scott took some time to inform the group of upcoming Electronic Records Management Training opportunities, as well as other workshops that are available in upcoming months.
March 2005 – Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA), Mount Vernon Chapter – Presentation of Electronic Imaging Systems (EIS) approval process
May 2005 – ARMA, Puget Sound Chapter – Presentation of Basic Electronic Records Management
May 2005 – Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) Conference – Workshop on Electronic Records Management
NEXT MEETING:
April 7 in conjunction with the WACO Board of Trustees Meeting