To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Clerk-Recorder-Assessor
Staff Name and Phone Number: Amanda King 707-565-1805
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
BMI Imaging Systems, Inc. Contract for Imaging Services
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Approve and authorize the Chair to execute an agreement with BMI Imaging Systems, Inc. for imaging services to the County Clerk-Recorder for a term of two years and an amount not to exceed $240,000, and delegate authority to the County Clerk-Recorder to amend the agreement, in a form approved by County Counsel, for minor changes not to exceed $50,000.
end
Executive Summary:
This agreement will allow for the export of all remaining land records from the Digital Reel system operated by BMI Imaging Systems, Inc. (“BMI”). These records will be imported into the County Clerk-Recorder’s existing records management system and provide access to the public and other County departments with a single location to search all recorded documents.
Discussion:
The County Recorder is mandated to record and file documents and maps as authorized by law. As part of this duty, the Recorder creates and maintains indexes to the records, and preserves the records for public use. Recorded documents are preserved for all time, and pre-date statehood. Older records were written or printed on paper and stored in books, with separate books for indexing. These books were later imaged to microfilm for preservation purposes. Current documents are scanned into the Clerk-Recorder records management system and maintained digitally with their index.
In 2012, the Clerk-Recorder’s office employed the services of BMI to scan recorded document images from microfilm. These digitized images of the recorded documents were indexed by the location of the document and searchable on a secure site in a proprietary format called Digital Reel, which appears as a scanned image of the microfilm reel. BMI additionally hosts the digitized images of older Clerk-filed and vital records. More current records are maintained within the current Clerk-Recorder records management system.
In August 2018, the Clerk-Recorder’s office entered into a contract to convert some of these recorded documents from 1964 to 1979 from the BMI system to the current Clerk-Recorder system. The project was successful, and are now available to the public via the recording system, including the ability to purchase documents online. Documents from 1980 forward were maintained in the current records management system, with their indexes.
In 2020, the Clerk-Recorder contracted with BMI to convert older vital records images from the BMI system for import into the Clerk’s current system. This allowed for increased efficiencies as staff would no longer be required to search both systems to fulfill vital records requests from the public given that the index for these records already existed in the Clerk’s records management system.
The current proposed project covers all recorded documents prior to 1964. All documents will be imported and indexed by the location (book and page) only.
Due to the differences in recording practices, microfilm technologies and the time period of the original recording, there are a variety of different types of images, document types, and indexing formats. Most documents are multi-page. Some documents were handwritten on form pages. Some were typewritten, with an individual document beginning on the top page of one piece of paper, and concluding on further sheets, but with no shared pages with other recorded documents. Others had a document start on a piece of paper, immediately after the prior recorded document ended. This might mean that a short, recorded document could be on a shared page with multiple other documents with no relation.
During the project, the images of the documents will be exported from the BMI Digital Reel system, compiled into the recorded documents (as opposed to single-page images), and indexed by book and page. The resulting documents and index will be prepared for importing into the current recording system.
Furthermore, with the passage of Assembly Bill 1466 in 2021, the Recorder is required to search through all recorded document images to locate illegal restrictive covenant language. These identified documents will then have the illegal language redacted and re-recorded as a new Restrictive Covenant Modification document with the original recording attached and the illegal language redacted. In order to complete the project, the County Recorder will need to have the pre-1964 images available to provide to the vendor who is awarded the Restrictive Covenant Modification Program Services contract. This project with BMI is critical to the completion of the Restrictive Covenant Modification Program.
The Purchasing Agent has approved a sole source waiver for this contract on account of the records being exported from BMI’s proprietary Digital Reel system.
Strategic Plan:
N/A
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
N/A
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 22-23 Adopted |
FY23-24 Projected |
FY 24-25 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
|
$240,000 |
|
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
|
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
|
$240,000 |
|
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
$240,000 |
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
|
$240,000 |
|
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
The funding of this project will be covered by the Recorder’s Modernization Fund, which is restricted for projects that will modernize the operations of the Recorder’s Office.
|
Staffing Impacts: N/A |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
Contract
Exhibit A - Scope of Work and Cost
Exhibit B - Insurance Requirements
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
N/A