Midland Park August 5, 2009 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 7 Midland Park’s application for a Public Archives and Records Infrastructure Support (P.A.R.I.S.) grant has been authorized for full funding this year. The $40,000 grant will be used to build a fireproof vault and shelving to store the town’s permanent records. Borough Clerk Addie Hanna said that the borough’s application was ranked high enough this year to be funded out of the State Records Center’s initial round of funding, without having to wait for the release of additional funding promised to the agency. Two years ago a similar application was rated favorably but was not funded when the state reduced the moneys allocated for the program and funded only grants going to counties. Small towns received no moneys at that time. “I’m happy to have received this grant and be able to help in the preservation of the borough’s rich history,” commented Hanna. She said that the grant moneys will be used in conjunction with the planned renovations to town hall, State grant will fund vault for recordkeeping where an existing room already has three cement walls. She explained that the grant will pay for building a cement fourth wall and ceiling and installing a fireproof door and appropriate shelving. In 2006 Hanna received a $30,000 P.A.R.I.S. grant to perform an inventory of all official documents and a needs assessment for records storage. The borough was only one of seven towns in the state to be funded under that pilot program. Last year the borough received another P.A.R.I.S. grant for new computers and scanning equipment for the electronic conversion of some records. Electronic storage of borough records is expected to be mandatory in the state in the next few years. If the grants had not come through, Hanna said, the borough would have had to pay the state for the job or hire a private company to perform the tasks. The P.A.R.I.S. program is an effort to preserve more and more records electronically and ultimately get away from paper records, Hanna said. At pres- ent, however, even though many records are preserved electronically, the original copies of certain documents are still required to be maintained indefinitely. Borough records going back more than a century are stored in the town hall basement, the garage and filing cabinets throughout the building. These include records from the clerk’s office, the building, police, fire and recreation departments, the court and borough financial records, among others. The town has a vault in the basement whose door does not close, so it provides no security. Hanna said that backup tapes for some records going back only to 1998 are stored in a bank’s safety deposit box. Hanna explained that once the electronic process is well in place, planning and zoning board applications could come in on disc, resulting in substantial space and time savings. She also noted that once archived records are scanned into the system, it just needs to be maintained up-to-date going forward. ����������������������� ��������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ���������������� ������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ������� ��������� ��� ������������ ��������� ���������������� ACKERMAN’S Music Center ����������������� ������������ �������������� ������������������������ ���������������������� ������������ ������������������������������ � ���������������������������������� � ������������������������������� ���������������������������� ������������������������������ ��������������������� � ������������ �������������������������� ��������������� Like the idea and philosophy behind acupuncture but are scared of needles? Why not try Tuina Massage. Let us Gift Certificates help you relax, replenish, and rejuvenate. Available Come on in and get your 20% off with this coupon! WELLNESS CENTER ������������������������������������������������������ ������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������������������ A Neighborhood Massage Therapy ���������������������������� ��������������������� ���������� Stay on top of commercial building maintenance Building Exterior Consultants, L.L.C. “Roofing and Waterproofing Solutions”  Roof Surveys  Waterproofing Surveys  Roof Evaluations  Moisture Surveys  Specification Development  Project Management  Construction Management  Due Diligence Jose A. Godoy Senior Consultant Phone: 954-584-3308 Fax: 954-584-3309 Cell: 954-275-3631 E-Mail: jgodoy@buildingexteriorconsultants.com Web Site: www.buildingexteriorconsultants.com