Council backs exploring grant to digitize building records; administration seeks local match

Township staff briefed the council on a proposal to digitize roughly 178 boxes of building-department records (spanning the 1970s to 2023) and a potential FEMA disaster-recovery grant to reimburse 75 percent of the project cost. The vendor proposal was described as approximately $100,000; staff said if the grant is awarded the township would cover an estimated municipal share of about $25,000 and a recurring cloud-storage/license fee of about $1,800 a year.

"The proposal came in at about a $100,000," the administrator said, describing the potential FEMA reimbursement available for building-department disaster-recovery digitization. He asked whether the council would be willing to commit to the municipal share so the grant could be filed. Several council members expressed support for pursuing the grant if the administration returned with final cost and contract terms.

Questions from council focused on data security, whether physical originals should be retained, whether already-digitized files can be indexed and merged, and the proposed recurring license fee. Staff said they would negotiate contract terms, attempt to lock recurring fees for a multi-year period if possible, and return to the council before signing any agreement. The council signaled a preliminary willingness to have the administration file the grant application and to consider the match from capital or departmental funds if an award is received.