Farmingville, NY - Brookhaven Councilman Kevin LaValle and the Town Board recently authorized an Intermunicipal Agreement for a shared services agreement with the Village of Lake Grove for the scanning and electronic storage of village records. The project will by spearheaded by Town Clerk Donna Lent and will include the digitization of Lake Grove Village meeting minutes for the Village, Planning and Zoning Boards. Creating an electronic copy of these records will provide the Village with faster response time for record retrieval and vastly improve record search capabilities. By maintaining a digital record, these documents will also be preserved and safeguarded against deterioration and natural disaster. Pictured left to right are Supervisor Ed Romaine; Town Clerk Donna Lent; Village of Lake Grove Mayor Robert Scottaline and Councilman Kevin LaValle.
The agreement is part of the $20 million Municipal Consolidation and Efficiency Plan (MCEP) grant from New York State, which the Village participated in securing. This grant is designed to improve the delivery of municipal services while also reducing the burden on taxpayers by eliminating redundancy in local governments, pursuing opportunities for increasing shared services, and implementing modernizations and best practices.
Supervisor Romaine said, “The Town is committed to partnering with our incorporated villages to streamline operations and save taxpayer dollars. I thank Councilman LaValle, Town Clerk Lent, her staff and Mayor Scottaline for their efforts to establish this new, working relationship and I encourage other municipalities to do the same.”
Councilman LaValle said, “The Town of Brookhaven and Village of Lake Grove have forged a solid working relationship over the years that will be enhanced by Mayor Scottaline’s commitment to our shared services program. The real winners will be the taxpayers who will keep more of their hard-earned dollars and still receive the services that they are accustomed to.”
Town Clerk Lent said, “This project will offer a host of new opportunities for the Village of Lake Grove. I am excited to extend the Town’s expertise and software to the Village as it will reduce the operational costs and offer faster service for our mutual residents.”
Mayor Scottaline said, “The Village and the Town have historically always partnered for the benefit of our joint constituents. Through the cooperative efforts of the Town and the Villages associated with the Town of Brookhaven, we were able to secure this grant for the benefit of all our residents. Working together and sharing services has always been our goal and with this grant we can continue to provide the highest level of services at the lowest possible cost to our taxpayers.
Under the grant, the Town of Brookhaven will make available, licenses for Laserfiche, the Town’s Electronic Content Management System. The Town Clerk, Donna Lent, has already digitized twenty million pages of records and now operates a central scanning repository at Town Hall. Under the agreement, Brookhaven will expand its electronic content management system (ECMS) to include the Village of Lake Grove’s digital records. Using Laserfiche not only decreases the costs of storage but also leverages the Town’s existing information infrastructure and expertise regarding document standards and security. Brookhaven Town Councilman Kevin LaValle continues to work closely with Lake Grove Mayor Robert Scottaline and Town Clerk Donna Lent to develop and implement additional shared services.
Division of Public Information * Office of the Supervisor
One Independence Hill • Farmingville • NY 11738 • Phone 631-451-6595