Clarion County’s records improvement committee has taken the first concrete steps toward resolving a decades-old problem.
The committee approved the purchase of a Phoenix fireproof safe for the commissioners’ office at a cost of $3,715. The unit is 17 inches deep and will be used to store the old docket books.
“The vital records, like our docket books, need to be protected,” said Commissioner Ted Tharan. “The only way to do that is to put them in a fireproof safe.”
“We will get it and see how it works,” said Tharan. “When we move into the new facility we will get more of them for each department.”
Tharan said, “no building is 100% fireproof so this might be a good way to go.”
Tharan said all the records will eventually be moved to the former Sorce building in Shippenville.
“We will all have enough room there,” said Tharan.
The old docket books are stored in several places but mainly in the old Clarion County jail.
“That is not a good place for the records,” said Tharan. “The old jail is not climate controlled.”
Register and recorder Greg Mortimer said he would place docket books for adoptions into the safe when it is available for his office. Many of the records in his office are recorded virtually.
“Once we get a fireproof room built at the Sorce building we will move all of the documents out there,” said Tharan. “The climate control is the most important thing to keep the temperature and humidity control so the documents do not get moldy.”
Tharan said the county crew is currently working on the 9-1-1 dispatch center at the Sorce building and will move on to the storage facility after it is completed. Tharan said the project would not be completed for at least a year.
The records storage fund has a balance of nearly $50,000. That money will be applied to both physical and virtual record storage.
The records committee won’t meet again until November.