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Date: 11/7/2018
AGAWAM – In a society based primarily on technology and streamlining processes to make them as simplistic as possible, it will soon be easier than ever for Agawam residents to access public information.
The town of Agawam recently won a $33,000 grant from the Community Compact Cabinet’s (CCC) Information Technology grant program for the purpose of creating a public repository for citizens to utilize in accessing public documents online. Once complete, residents will be able to search for items via the town website.
Agawam IT Director Jeffrey Hurlbert, who applied for the grant, explained that the product will make the process of storing documents on the town website simpler. The program, called LaserFiche, utilizes a seeding of the document library. Seeding is the process of a file being uploaded to a system and immediately becoming available to users of the program. Hurlbert shared, “It takes documents, whether they are scanned or word documents and indexes and catalogues them. The purpose is to have a module that allows the public to see a particular document library.” The grant will also aid in expanding the library of scanned documents.
The original process would require submitting a request to access town information, but the LaserFiche program will make searching for documents much more self-sufficient. Some documentation is currently available on the website, but is limited.
Agawam Mayor William Sapelli will be meeting with town departments to develop a priority list of which documents to upload to the new system first. Among potential documents to be seen are contracts, planning board files, maps and engineering documents.
Using a keyword search, residents will have the ability to access the town of Agawam website and search through the city’s broad library of documentation from each department. After the initial system is created, Hurlbert explained that it would be easily expandable so that more documents can be added in the future.
Hurlbert is excited about the start of the project. “It will allow us to make it easier for the public to have access. Not only will we offer documents moving forward, but historical documents as well.”
In the award letter from Michael J. Herrernan, Secretary for the Executive Office for Administration and Finance to Sapelli, he stated, “The competition for funding was intense. Your application was chosen because it met the overarching goal of driving innovation and transformation at the local level via investments in technology.”
Having the ability to search for documents online will eventually eliminate processes such as manually searching through paper documents or not having access to the information at all. Hurlbert said, “This will increase transparency and make it easier to access town resources.”
The grant also allows for a team to be brought in to assist in archiving existing documents to the new system.
While Hurlbert was not certain of the exact timeframe for the work to be complete, he estimated by spring 2019, likely between the months of February and March. “That’s pretty conservative, but at the latest,” he stated.
Incorporating the LaserFiche system helps streamline technology-driven processes for Agawam. Town meeting agendas are published online through the town website and Facebook, and city council meetings are streamed on Vimeo. As described in the letter from Heffernan, “Your participation not only provided you with technical assistance, but it also places you in a more competitive position for other state grants, such as this IT program. I am glad to see your community taking advantage of the benefits the CCC program offers.”
Acceptance of the grant is expected to be conducted at the City Council meeting on Nov. 7. Upon completion of the new system, documents can be accessed at www.agawam.ma.us.