Looking at the chart of initial American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) projects, you will see an item titled “Plotter,” which is a large format printer/scanner/copier machine.
Director of Community Development Abby Kenyon says that the new machine has made life a whole lot easier in the Town Hall, as it allows the building department to print full size 24 x 36-inch plan sets, eliminating the need and expense of outsourcing them.
Even more important, Kenyon says, is the department can now scan, save and send large maps. Prior to this, if someone asked for a map, it had to be printed on a reduced-sized paper and, if the department didn’t have the map electronically, only a photocopy could be provided. Sometimes they would find a way to photocopy just a small section of the map needed. Also, because the desired map could not be scanned on the smaller machine, it could not be emailed, so the person who requested the map would have to come into Town Hall in person to pick it up. Now the copying, scanning and mailing is easily accomplished and readily available online via RecordHub for title searches by local attorneys.
The new machine is also making life a lot easier for the town clerk. One of his jobs is to record new maps in the land records. Previously, maps were sent out for processing; he can now scan them in-house and upload them directly to the record books, making them available for viewing online—so much more convenient for all concerned.
Town Clerk Scott Nolan is undertaking a process to upload all the town’s older maps into the record books as well, preserving the town’s historical documents. Going back to January 1, 1985, 1,750 maps have been entered into the books. Since early summer when the plotter was first used, 600 have been uploaded.
Allocated for this project was $10,000 in ARPA funds. It came in slightly under budget.