Document text
Medford moves toward electronic filing By JIM DAVIS Paper, paper everywhere and nary an empty filing cabinet in sight. That's the problem Medford City Hall is experiencing at an increasing rate every day, said Medford City Recorder Beverly Sandblast. "Every little hallway and cupboard and alcove is used for storage of paper documents," said Sandblast. "And they're not properly stored." Now, the city is looking at storing most of its paper documents -- up to 90 percent of its records -- electronically. The city has proposed $227,000 in next year's budget to start looking at transferring files from paper to an electronic format -- or imaging -- and to pay for a pilot program for police records and the city recorder's office, said Jim Pulliam, the city's information services director, who started last year. He hopes the city will switch over in the next three to five years, he said. "We're out of space," Pulliam said. "That's what's driving this." Right now, the city does 95 to 97 percent of its business on paper, Pulliam said. For example, city employees still use three carbon copies when they request time off for vacations and sick leave. The city also gets dozens of documents each day, such as applications and maps submitted to the planning and building departments. "In the city, we probably produce hundreds of documents per day on paper," Pulliam said. Sandblast, who is in charge of keeping and maintaining city documents, said that most need to be kept for two or more years for legal reasons. Over the years, the city has accumulated reams and reams of paper, filling hallways, the basement and a portion of the city's service center on North Columbus Avenue, Sandblast said. According to state law, the city also must document every time it destroys a document, adding to the paper heap. By "imaging" its documents, the city will do most of its work electronically. If a file needs to be on paper, it can be printed out. Outside documents will be scanned into the the city's computer system. Pulliam said the city has the computers in place, but it hasn't built an archiving system. For instance, the city's personnel department has to keep job applications on file for two years. Right now, the applications sit in a box. In the future, Pulliam hopes applications will be submitted online. Or, if they come in on paper, the application can be scanned into the city's computers. He also said the city hasn't linked its computers together very well. Under this program, all city workers will be able to simultaneously pull up documents and files. He said he could store the contents of a four-drawer filing cabinet on a single compact disc. The city keeps its small amount of electronic documents in a centralized storage facility. The city also keeps backup electronic files away from City Hall in case anything goes wrong with the main storage facility. The International City/County Management Association estimated that a billion paper documents are processed daily just in the United States, Pulliam said. Of those, about 3 percent are misfiled. Pulliam said the cost to recover those documents -- the pay for the workers and the delays it causes -- ranges from $140 to $200 per document. While documents can still be misfiled electronically, the city can buy a search engine that will allow documents to be retrieved more easily and cheaply. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA