Published: August 13, 2009 04:16 pm      

Brownsburg moves forward with open door system

Laserfiche makes public documents readily available

BROWNSBURG — By the end of the year, the Town of Brownsburg plans to have all public documents available for viewing online.

A software program called Laserfiche will make it possible for each town department to upload meeting minutes and agendas, public notices, and any information that is legally considered public information.

Town Council Vice President Matt Bowles said the town had been in possession of the software for a few years and was using it in the clerk-treasurer’s office, but hadn’t been fully utilizing it.

“With my background in the printing and document industry, I knew about Laserfiche and knew what its potential was,” he said. “It was just a matter of saying what are we using it for, what we’re not using it for, and what could we be using it for. Through that process of discovery, (we) found a local vendor that can support this adequately, and went through the update process. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve begun to upgrade, expand, and implement.”

So far the town has been in the first phase of implementation, including training department heads and town leadership in how to upload and use the software. Bowles said phase two will train all employees on how to use the software and phase three will include the public learning how to use the program.

“Our goal is to have all of that done by the end of the year,” he said.

There have already been two training sessions for phase one of the plan.

“I think people and town employees that participated were pleasantly surprised by the tools they had been given,” he said. “It makes information easier to find, communication easier, planning documents and those kinds of things. Even (Town Manager) Jim Waggoner, his comment was, ‘I’m probably the least computer literate and found the tool easy to use.’”

The software cost about $70,000.

“The $70,000 is a couple of things,” Bowles said. “It’s an upgrade to the current product, the purchase of the web product (for public use), support and training. With software, it’s constantly being upgraded. And part of those dollars will go to support service. We believe by the end of the year, we will have realized the value of the investment.”

He said the town departments and officials jumped on board with using the program without much argument.

“(It’s) a compelling investment for the town,” he said. “There’s really no argument, (because) it’s straight forward and compelling. We have a great desire to continue to educate the public and we feel this was one of the greatest assets we could offer the public.”

Bowles said opening up the documents to the community and making them easier to get to is part of being more accountable to the town and taxpayers.

“The goal is accountability, transparency, and doing work more efficiently with less,” he said.

He said Christine Curtis, assistant town manager, was the “driving force” in getting this implemented, although she had help from the clerk-treasurer’s office, the planning department, and Pete Planca from the information technology department.

The site will be linked to the Town of Brownsburg’s website, www.brownsburg.org, once it is fully operational.

charlee.beasor@flyergroup.com