ALBANY -- Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills has announced that the Village of Walton, in Delaware County, has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the New York State Archives to help pay the costs of restoring paper records that were damaged by the flood waters that inundated the village at the end of June.
Approximately 150 cubic feet of archival records that are actively used by the Police Department and various departments housed in the Village Offices have been sent to Document Reprocessors to be freeze-dried. This is the preferred method of restoration since freezing inhibits the growth of damaging mold and mildew. Estimated costs of this process are approximately $125.00 per cubic foot.
The Village of Walton grant is funded through the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF). The LGRMIF is routinely used to help local governments recover from disasters, such as fires or floods, that damage or destroy archival records. For example, the LGRMIF offered a special World Trade Center Disaster Response Grant to New York City local governments that sustained record damage as a result of the attack.
In addition to disaster relief, LGRMIF grants assist local governments develop records management systems that improve access to local government records. The Senate and Assembly first established this local assistance program in 1989 and made the fund permanent in 2004. The LGRMIF derives its revenues from a small percentage of the fees paid when people file or record documents with county clerks and the Register of the City of New York.