Press Release

County, City & Town Officials Discuss Development, Shared Service Initiatives

Ossenfort Hosts Villa, Mead & DiMezza In Productive Meeting Focused On Records Management

FONDA - Montgomery County Executive Matthew L. Ossenfort met last Thursday with City of Amsterdam Mayor Michael Villa and town supervisors Tom DiMezza (Amsterdam) and Eric Mead (Florida) to discuss a number of shared services possibilities and economic development opportunities in the eastern end of the county.

The meeting touched on an array of topics such as improved coordination between DPW crews to maintain upkeep at points of entry into the county and possible benefits of making large-scale equipment purchases that could be shared by the municipalities. Everyone agreed that the best way to make progress moving forward is by working together to effectively meet the needs of residents.

"This was a very productive meeting," Ossenfort said. "I appreciate Mike, Tom and Eric agreeing to get together to discuss how we can pool our resources to better meet the needs of our constituents. There was a lot of positive discussion about the direction we are headed in and some fresh new ideas that we will consider moving forward."

There was lengthy discussion about the digitizing of electronic records and the shift to an electronic content management system (ECMS). County Historian Kelly Farquhar and Senior Planner William Roehr explained the process and the steps that the county is beginning to take and how the other municipalities could see a benefit from this initiative.

"We should be aiming to share resources, whenever possible, with the goal of operating more efficiently and effectively for residents," Villa said. "I hope the city and the county can continue working together cooperatively to get better results for the taxpayers moving forward."

An ECMS is a system designed to properly manage digitized items and other electronic records, using a database to manage descriptive information about the images that aids in the retrieval of records contained in the repository. Not only is this more cost effective, it provides necessary security for records, allows for quicker retrieval and provides continuity, in the event of a disaster, to meet statutory and regulatory requirements for records retention.

Due to advances in technology throughout the years, Montgomery County's government records can be found across many different platforms, including servers, file formats and physical storage. This can be problematic when assisting the public in a timely and efficient manner.

This initiative provides an opportunity to improve government services and efficiency for those that the municipalities serve. The city and towns were very receptive to the ideas and were looking forward to hearing the next steps forward.

"If we can identify initiatives that will reduce our costs and do things more efficiently, we are certainly going to consider them," Mead said. "We need to make it a priority to share services between the county, the city, the towns and the villages, whenever possible. By working together, we can work smarter and cut operating costs in the process."

"People from outside the county don't see town borders or city lines, so we need to work together to make sure we present the best image possible," DiMezza said. "I want to work with the other municipalities to make this an even better place to call home and more of an attractive destination for visitors."