Town of Cheektowaga's
Records and Information
Management Program

The Town of Cheektowaga has accumulated records since its inception in 1839. The Town's twenty-two departments, housed in five distinct locations throughout the community, provide a full array of services to the Town's 99,000+ residents. Part of these services is to provide accessibility to our public records, which is made possible through the growth of our Records Management program.

The early 1970's marked the beginning of Records Management within the Town of Cheektowaga. With the continual support and supervision of Richard M. Moleski, Records Management became a critical part of our local government. Records Management started with indexing, organizing, and microfilming Town Clerk records. In 1975, the Town Records Room was established. The room is temperature and humidity controlled, with easy accessibility to its documents. Over the years, the Town Clerk's Office has maintained ongoing indexing methods.

The end of the 1980's brought a more serious attitude toward the management of the Town's records and information. A resolution was passed in 1987 to establish a Records Management Program. On August 15, 1988, Richard Moleski was appointed Records Management Officer. The same year, the Town adopted the appropriate State Archives and Records Administration Records Retention and Disposition Schedule.

The 1990's demonstrated an explosion of Records Management activities. The State Archives and Records Administration Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF) grants spearheaded the Town's official program and gave foundation for many new and exciting activities. In 1990, the Town applied for its first LGRMIF grant. By 1992, the first phase of a microfilming project began.

Through it's 1992 LGRMIF, the Town began the start of a microfilming program, whereby several departments would get involved in microfilming activities. The onset of the program involved three phases, which lasted through 1994. Microfilming is a critical process that has many advantages. Records protection, space savings, information retrieval, cost effectiveness, and file integrity are just some of the benefits. Several Town departments microfilm records on a yearly basis. The departments include the Town Clerk's Office, Justice Court, Assessor's Office, Accounting Office, Supervisor's Office, Tax Office, Police Department, Building Department, and the Payroll Office.

Due to the number of departments involved in microfilming records, the amount of time needed to administer the grants, and the fact that the program was developing outside of the LGRMIF grants, a full-time position was created. In July of 1995, Lisa-Marie Bolognese was hired as Records Inventory Clerk. Large portions of her initial duties were to oversee the LGRMIF grants and the Microfilm Project.

Several departments requested a line item for microfilm within their departmental budget. Shortly after the establishment of this line item, departments became aware that much needed records management involved more than just microfilming, and the item was changed from Microfilming to Records Management. This change allowed departments to purchase such items as proper storage boxes, microfilm, microfilm cabinets, and Records Management supplies. Currently, the Town sets aside $21,400 of the overall budget for Records Management practices.

Aside from the continual microfilming of Town Clerk records, and management of the Town's Records Center, the Program began to develop in other areas. Another area of Records Management that has its onset through the LGRMIF grant is the Archival Program. This program has allowed the Town to process and arrange record series that prove to be of historical, legal, fiscal, and administrative value to our Town. Once the records have been processed and arranged according to provenance and original order, the next step, description, will take place. Description of the records involves designing finding aids, which will become part of the Outreach Program. Outreach techniques allows researchers, historians, residents and the general public to have easier accessibility to our local government records.

Outside of the LGRMIF grants, but incorporated within the Town's archival program, the Town Clerk's Office has conserved several important Town Books, including the original 1839 minute book. Conservation of these books involves dismantling and cleaning the adhesive residue of the books. Paper is mended and deacidified, and the books are sewn and bound in goatskin and acid-free materials. This process increases the book's shelf life for future generations to utilize the historical contents of the archival materials.

At approximately the same time the Archival Program began, a Town Historian was appointed to office. In April 1996, Mary F. Holtz became the Town's Historian. Since her appointment, an Archival Newsletter was established, an application for National Landmark Status of the War of 1812 Cemetery was prepared, and a database of Archival Pictures was developed. Ms. Holtz has initiated and completed many historical projects since she accepted the position.

On the flip side of delving into old Town records, the Record Management Program also began to probe into telecommunications. In 1996, the Town Clerk's Office applied and received the Telecommunications Initiative Project (TIP) grant. This exciting endeavor allowed several departments to connect to the Internet and maintain separate e-mail accounts.

As an offshoot of TIP, the staff at the grant office offered a sub-grant to train municipalities in Web site development. The Records Inventory Clerk was awarded the competitive grant for the training. In 1997, the Towns Web site became official at http://www.town.Cheektowaga.ny.us. The site offers information about the Town, business, education, government, libraries, the museum and organizations.

Along with the beginnings of telecommunications, a more serious attitude was taken with the management of electronic records. This part of the project is in its early stages, but it involves the better management of records that are generated either by or with the help of computer systems. During the time that computer systems and telecommunications became an everyday necessity of local government, the project began to change from the management of records to the Records and Information Management program. Information meaning all information, whether in hard copy format or any other format generated by the department.

Due to the size and volume of the Town's Records Management Program, a Records Advisory Board was established. The Board oversees all aspects of the Records Management Program. The Advisory Board also supervises the transfer of records to the Town's Records Center. The Board finalizes the inventory list of all records that have been destroyed. Destruction of Town's records is done through a process, which follows an adopted Disposition Policy, that is an intricate part of the overall program.

Policies and procedures is only a small portion of documentation developed and implemented through the Records Management Program. Manuals, brochures, newsletters and reports are generated from the program and available through the Town Clerk's Office. To learn more about the Town's Records Management Program, please contact Richard M. Moleski at (716) 686-3434 -or- Lisa-Marie Bolognese at (716) 892-3597.

Record and Information Management Program's
MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Cheektowaga Records Management Program is to provide protection and systematic control for the records created by our local government, for both officials and citizens, for the promotion of pride in our community, as well as, preserving a record of our Town's progress.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Records Management is an administrative service that identifies, preserves and encourages the use of archival records. The program provides for efficient storage of records, makes records available when needed, and ensures the legal disposition of obsolete records.

By controlling all phases of records, from creation to final disposition, our Town will be able to reduce paperwork proliferation, have efficient access to requested information, provide documentation of compliance to State Agencies, and maintain a historical record.

The program ensures that records, information, and historical documents will be available, as needed, by government officials and members of the public. The program also provides guidelines for local government departments to follow that eliminate redundant records and promptly dispose of records no longer needed.

The Town Clerk, who was designated as the Records Management Officer by the Cheektowaga Town Board, coordinates the Cheektowaga Records Management Program.