County Digital Scanning Project Smooth So Far

By Jonathan Weaver

At the beginning of April, officials in various Armstrong County departments began work to make current-and records more than 150 years old more accessible.

Since, the County digital scanning project has gone “very well,” according to County Tax Claim Bureau Director Jeannie Englert. The current task is to scan in Homstead Exclusion, Clean and Green and Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance – or LERTA – ordinances.

“It’s going well – it’s going very well,” Englert said. “All of the most current information for those major three things are scanned in.”

Scanning Clerk Jill Toy was busy organizing piles of Clean and Green documents on a long desk before scanning them into a computer one-by-one. She said the effort will make accessing documents “more user-friendly.”

“I started with last year’s Homestead (Exclusion documents), right now I’m doing all the Clean and Green that we have and I started some LERTA,” Toy said. “Then, we’re going to go with old assessment cards and just…everything. Everything we have is going to be scanned. That way we’ll have access via the computer rather than having to pull files.”

Toy began as an Assessment Clerk eight years ago before being shifted to the new project. Englert called her “invaluable” to the operation – which will keep her busy awhile.

“This is an ongoing thing – this is something that will never end,” Englert said. “The amount of paper we have is ridiculous.”

Other departments that have begun the project include the commissioners’ office and the probation department, and more projects are in-the-works, Englert said.

“We’re looking at some other projects that will also decrease the cost of operating the departments in general and will assist not only people that come in the office, like the abstractors, surveyors and attorneys, but so the public will be able to get on and access the information much more easily than coming in the office,” Englert said. “We have a lot of things we’re hoping to get accomplished.”

Meanwhile, Englert will also begin four weeks of classes through the Assessors’ Association of Pennsylvania September 8 at the Belmont Complex in East Franklin Township. She originally thought she would have to take the class at Penn State University.

It will be the first time classes are held in Armstrong County, and will attract hope-to-be assessors from 15 counties – from Westmoreland to Lackawanna.

She will attend the classes after Chief Assessor Mike Renosky retired August 1 after 27 years of service. He started in the County mapping department.

Former Field Assessor Vince Milie, who has been part of the department for nearly 14 years, has been named Interim Chief Assessor in his absence.

Renosky was approved by the county commissioners to consult Milie during a 90-day, as needed, contractual agreement.

Englert said the classes will keep her busy this fall…

“But you have to complete continued education and get a certain number of points every year,” Englert said.

Milie: “It’s tricky, but she’ll do fine.”

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