Nodaway County Clerk Melinda Patton applied for and received a $22,500 Electronic Records Initiative Grant from the Missouri Secretary of State’s office to scan the county’s election and other records.
Patton expressed the need to have the county’s records backed up in a researchable file in case of a natural disaster or a fire. It is important to have these records preserved.
The grant has covered the cost of the equipment and help from DocuLock, LLC, St. Joseph, in procuring the correct equipment and scanning the bound books of records dating from 1864-1905.
The clerk’s office started with scanning the commissioners’ minutes as the easiest learning curve. All of the minutes from 2000 to 2020 have been scanned. The office is currently working on the election records. This is a slower endeavor.
PDFs are made of the documents. These will be uploaded to the nodawaycountymo.us website where the pages will be searchable and printable. Patton is working with Midwest Data, Maryville, on the website logistics.
All of the original documents are being safely stored in the Nodaway County Administration Center.
The final grant report is due to the state by May 31. The digitized, searchable documentation will be available before that date on the website.
On the election records, each entity is filed in a folder. Included are samples of the ballots or statement of non-election, certificate of election and filing documentation for each election by date.
Assessed valuations folders contain certification letter from state auditor, documentation from municipality, state auditor worksheets or proformas. The county sends notice at the end of June or first of July. After the Board of Equalization, official notice of assessed valuation is sent.
All of this information will be searchable and will help with the transparency of Nodaway County government records.
Patton said normally requests for information concerns ballot issues, how many times it has gone to the voters, the first time it was voted on, etc.
Facebook Comments