TOWN OF WAPPINGER ANNOUNCES ARCHIVAL GRANT TO DIGITIZE BUILDING DEPARTMENT RECORDS
WAPPINGER, N.Y. – The Town of Wappinger is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a 2026-27 Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF) Grant from the New York State Archives to digitize Town Code Enforcement Office records, which includes the Building Department, as well as the Planning/Zoning Divisions. The grant represents an important investment in preserving Wappinger’s actively used records, improving public access, and modernizing the way the Town manages, and provides records to residents and officials.
The project builds upon the Town Supervisor Joseph D. Cavaccini’s recent efforts to digitize municipal records using desk scanners to actively scan all Town documents along with the Office of the Town Clerk’s long-standing efforts of digitizing records dating back to 1875. This new grant will allow the Town to significantly expand this work by addressing an urgent records management need involving the Building Department’s large collection of paper records.
The Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund was established by state law in 1989 to provide funding to help local governments establish records management programs or develop new program components. Through this funding, the Town will complete a document and conversion access project to scan and digitize its Building/Planning/Zoning records, which will assist Town employees with onsite inspections as well as in preserving, securing, and providing greater access to these records.
The Code Enforcement Office’s active records currently occupy approximately 1,100 cubic feet and include 9,500 file folders containing historical hard copy records, located within their Office at Wappinger Town Hall. In addition to this, the Department also has a substantial “historical” records collection of older non-active files located at the off site Wappinger Town Records Management Facility. The project is expected to create approximately 332,500 digital images in accordance with LGS-1 retention standards. The records are one-of-a-kind paper documents, and their limited storage space, and labor-intensive processing of monthly Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests have limited their availability to Town residents and officials.
Earlier this year the Town Board took action to expand its digital records retention software to include the digitization of these documents.
“Receiving this New York State Archives grant is an exciting and important step forward for the Town of Wappinger,” said Town Supervisor Joseph D. Cavaccini. “By digitizing the Code Enforcement Office’s active building, planning, and zoning records, we are not only preserving critical municipal documents, but also modernizing the way our Town serves residents, property owners, and businesses. This investment will make information more accessible, improve efficiency for our staff, and ensure these vital records are protected and available for generations to come.”
Second Ward Councilwoman Heather O’Dell added, “It’s great to see Wappinger receive this Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund grant! I’m happy to see this funding go toward digitizing and preserving important Building Department records, making them easier to access and helping our town serve the community more efficiently.”
Fourth Ward Councilman Al Casella follows up emphasizing, “This grant will allow us to upgrade our Building Department records management by digitizing records that were previously maintained in paper format. Digitization will improve turnaround times for resident requests, preserve important documents, and ensure compliance with records retention schedules. It will also streamline the overall records process, reduce staff workload by making documents more readily accessible, and enhance the level of service provided to residents.”
LGRMIF funds will be used for a NYSID Preferred Source Vendor to protect and preserve these historical records and convert them into organized, complete, and readily sharable digital files. Once digitized, the records will be significantly more accessible to the public, while ensuring compliance with LGS-1.
Digitization will also significantly reduce records retrieval time and the amount of staff time required to fulfill public requests. The Town expects the time needed to retrieve property and planning records in response to FOIL requests to be reduced by 50-75% once the fragile and deteriorating paper records have been converted to digital files.
Currently, Town staff process an average of 56 file requests each month, consisting of approximately 33 FOIL requests and 23 property title search requests. Each request takes a minimum average of 25 minutes to process and requires staff involvement to retrieve the physical paper file, with some requests taking substantially longer. The current process can require approximately six hours of labor per week, 24 hours per month, and 312 hours per year, at an annual labor cost of $7,488 per employee. With as many as eight employees fulfilling these records requests, the current annual labor cost is $59,904 without digitization.
Following digitization, the project is expected to reduce the annual retrieval cost to $5,990 in labor. In addition to reducing government staff time and salary-related costs, digitization will reduce the Town’s need for physical storage space, helping to lower ongoing storage costs and delays associated with retrieving paper records.
The Town of Wappinger’s continued records digitization efforts reflect its commitment to preserving the community’s history while using modern technology to improve government efficiency and public access. This grant will help ensure that critical Building Department records remain secure, accessible, and preserved for current and future generations.
The Town recognizes and appreciates the support of the New York State Archives and the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund in advancing this important records preservation and accessibility project for the Wappinger community.”
