Wasilla considers $100,000 e-records system

WASILLA — During a special meeting Monday night, Wasilla City Council discussed whether to spend an additional $100,000 on an electronic records system and if spending up to $6,000 of taxpayer dollars on a holiday party for city employees is the best use of those funds.

Council also considered continuing to set aside funds to cover costly public appeals, such as those protesting the planning commission’s approval of an outdoor firing range near the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center.

City Clerk Kristie Smithers presented documents and recommendations to the council on Fiscal Year 2012 budget expenditures for her office, records management and council.

Smithers explained that because the city prepared its bi-annual budget last year to include budgets for a two-year cycle, the budget for 2012 doesn’t need much adjustment. However, because the city last year was unable to afford spending $100,100 to purchase new computer software from SIRE Technologies to allow the city’s records to be electronically copied and stored, she’s hoping the city will be able to make that expenditure this summer so that Wasilla can begin transferring its paper records into more manageable and accessible computer files.

“SIRE will meet and solve many of our obstacles dealing with electronic records management,” Smithers wrote in her opening letter to council. “This program may also be expanded to meet our future needs of the city to include: disaster recovery (another records management piece), active review which would assist the planning office in tracking land use items, a meeting management and voting system tool, and commission management.”

Smithers explained that by state statute, the city clerk is responsible for the management of government records, including e-documents.

“Currently, the city has no way to manage its e-documents,” she said, adding that e-mails, databases and any documents kept in electronic format are included in that category. “SIRE’s Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) puts the city in a more responsive position as it pertains to public records requests by making city documents more easily accessible.”

Such an electronics records system also gives the city a more legally defensible position by ensuring its e-records are meeting laws guiding record retention and destruction, she said.

For the past several years, the city has contracted with Acumen Information Services to help with the city’s paper records and files to tune of $60,000 per year, with another $6,000 budgeted each year for the company to do a records audit and assist the clerk with the retention schedule.

The city also has spent about $20,000 per year to have two temporary records technicians assist with web page activities on council legislation, cemetery sales and election-related inquiries, as well as with various public and media requests brought on by former mayor Sarah Palin’s rise to the international spotlight.

Smithers said she’d rather see the city hire another full-time records technician in place of the two temporary employees to provide daily maintenance of the records program and assist the clerk with routine operations on a more consistent basis.

Although council members weren’t ready to commit either way because there were still unknowns on whether the city could afford the new expenses, they appreciated Smithers’ research and need for an electronics system.

Councilman Steve Menard was concerned about future expenses that would come with a new system.

“Once you open Pandora’s Box of technology, you never know how high costs go for upgrades,” Menard said. “All I know is it’s a huge cost and somebody smarter than me should figure out how to pay for it.”

When it came to spending about $5,000 on the city’s 2010 holiday party for employees, most council members felt the expense was justified to reward employees for their hard work all year.

Councilwoman Taffina Katkus, however, wondered if it was the best use of taxpayer funds and whether money could be saved by making it a potluck dinner instead of having it catered.

“I know there are a lot of people out there that don’t have that luxury,” Katkus said. “What is the purpose of the party? There weren’t any awards or presentations or formal introductions. Maybe it should be more structured.”

Councilwoman Leone Harris said she wouldn’t want to see the event become so structured that it took the fun out of it.

In the end, Katkus agreed to head up a committee to help plan the next holiday party.

“We’re under a lot of public scrutiny,” Katkus said.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.