Grundy county glossing over the paperless option

One county and its local transit system have looked in all the wrong places for a new place to store their records. 

Grundy County, along with the Grundy Transit System, have been searching for new digs for their documents following a leak at an old storage facility, the Morris Daily Herald reported. The county in Illinois first realized the need to improve storage last year, when Grundy County Clerk Lana Phillips and former Treasurer Marcy Miller explained their concerns about storing important records in buildings where they are susceptible to damage. Now, officials in the county are in search of a safer place to store Grundy's most important files.

How Grundy County officials plan on saving crucial documents
The first thought was to simply fix the leaky roof in order to keep the documents safe. This option was discarded though, when it was discovered that repairing the roof would cost more than $60,000, the publication explained. Instead, county officials decided it would be better to find an alternative solution. 

The next option considered is still in the works, and seems to be the direction that the county is leaning toward right now. Last June, the transit system was awarded over $540,000 from the Illinois Department of Transportation to construct a brand new bus barn. Now, officials in the area are considering using the bus barn for more than just parking. The thought now is that combining the garage with office and storage space will be the best use of the half-a-million dollar grant from the state's transportation department. Grundy officials have even considered spending to ensure that the storage space for the documents is climate controlled. But still, it seems as though the county is glossing over one option. 

The option that hasn't been considered yet in Grundy
Spending more than $60,000 on a roof, or putting some of the county transit system's money toward document storage space, both appear pointlessly expensive in the face of the ultra-efficient and cost-saving option that is document management software. Localized branches of government all over the country are digitizing their records to save both time and money. A number of school and county board meetings have switched to tablets and case filing for many regional courts has gone electronic and real-time. 

Companies, schools and municipalities often choose digital content management systems due to the fact that they're cheaper than alternatives, such as repairing a leaky roof, and save physical space that could be used for other things – such as storing even more buses or building additional offices in Grundy County's case. 

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