Smyrna seeks StarPoint, LaserFISH agreements to digitize and manage official records

SmyrnaTown staff presented a two-step records-management plan at the January workshop: approve StarPoint Imaging Services to digitize official paper records and then authorize LaserFISH as the enterprise content-management (ECM) software to hold, index and manage those digital records.

Amber, who presented the items, said departments are currently paper-heavy and that digitization improves disaster resilience and operational efficiency. She described the vendor workflow: StarPoint will schedule on-site processing, box and barcode records, remove them to a secure location for scanning, and provide the town with encrypted external hard drives when the work is delivered. "If I need a record that they have in their possession, I can email them... they'll be able to locate that record, and they'll scan it to us within a half an hour," Amber said in the workshop (transcript).

LaserFISH capabilities and costs

Amber said LaserFISH is more than an electronic filing cabinet: it provides text recognition (OCR), some AI keyword recognition, retention-schedule automation and integration with open-records management software. Council members asked about long-term, recurring support costs and who will set retention policies; Amber and other staff said retention is set by department employees or the person uploading files and that recurring costs may increase incrementally as storage and consumption grow.

Security and timing

Staff said StarPoint will retain digital copies temporarily and securely while LaserFISH is set up; paper copies will be held and returned or properly disposed of after a verification period (up to six months). Amber estimated an approximate 90-day timeline for the initial work on HR records before moving to court clerk and town clerk records. The items were presented for placement on the February agenda for formal action; the workshop transcript does not record votes.