York Township To Hire New Assistant To The Clerk As It Digitizes Operations

York Township is going digital. As the township is entering a new decade, record keeping and communications are being improved to help serve residents better.

“You reach a point where it becomes hard to find documents that you need,” York Township Supervisor Chuck Tellas said.

Township records are being digitized just to save time and money. The township’s planning paperwork, clerk’s office records and budget all need to be stored somewhere and digitization will, of course, reduce the amount of space needed and mitigate the risks of documents being lost or damaged.

Digitization will help the township comply with the State of Michigan’s record retention requirements. York Township has started with it’s planning permission documents, as they are the biggest. The process is expected to cost $29,000 over three years.

“The cost of protecting and storing documents in digital fashion is very attractive,” Tellas added.

But digitizing documents is big task. One way the township is getting help is through the hiring of a new Assistant to the Clerk. While this new employee will not exclusively work on digitization, it will be part of their duties. The position will be posted on the township’s website soon.

“Our auditors told us that we are undermanned. We have very few people for the size of the township we are. I think [that is] a tribute to the people who served here before and severed here recently,” Tellas said.

It was decided at the December meeting of the Board of Trustees, December 8, that the new assistant to the clerk will be employed for up to 30 hours per week, at $12 per hour. Other duties may be required in the future, as the goals of the office change. The job would last for 90 days.

The township is already being helped by the MiTec Solutions – who did not respond to multiple requests for comment – in scanning documents.