Municipal Clerks Feel Pressure to Modernize as COVID-19 Persists

Source: Gov Tech Published: July 31, 2020

The responsibilities of municipal clerks may vary, but the pandemic has led many of them to take a hard look at the services they can enhance through technology. 

Ethan Watson, city clerk of Albuquerque, N.M., said a key focus of his office is managing documents for other city departments and citizens. In response to the need for social distancing, Watson’s office has started accepting some documents electronically, such as public bid submissions. 

Before the pandemic, Watson’s team had been digitizing the most frequently requested public records, such as underground storage tank inspection and fire code inspection reports. The office has been ramping up its efforts on this front, scanning close to 10,000 documents a week, but identifying which records are worth the time to scan has been harder than it sounds. 

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