In ceremonies held in the General Assembly Chamber at the State House, Cape May County PARIS project manager and County Clerk Rita Fulginiti received the award from Secretary Wells, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein, and Javier Inclán, Governor Jon Corzine’s Director of Constituent and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Nearly 150 state and local officials attended the ceremonies.  Dr. Weinstein, head of the National Archives and Records Administration, presented the keynote address, applauding New Jersey for launching a program that has become a national model for meeting the challenge of managing local government records, whether from the ancient past or in the information technology age.

The Award for Excellence recognizes Cape May County’s special achievement in the category of “Disaster Preparedness, Infrastructure.” It was one of eight awards given by the Department of State’s Division of Archives and Records Management to outstanding county and municipal governments participating in the PARIS program during its inaugural year.

In May 2005, Cape May County received a $598,677 PARIS grant for the establishment of its Regional Records Recovery Center. The RRRC will withstand a category four hurricane, housing the county’s disaster recovery and business continuity operations.  Built using both PARIS and county funds, the RRRC provides automatic back-up of vital electronic records and will provide a hot-site for the re-establishment of government operations in the wake of a disaster.  The RRRC will also accommodate participation by the county’s constituent municipal governments.  Considering the county’s exposure to the Atlantic Ocean and its vulnerability to storms and flooding, Cape May is at the leading edge of disaster preparedness in the State of New Jersey.

Ms. Fulginiti accepted the award on behalf of the county, stating “Cape May County has always had a culture of collaboration, and has always had the vision to protect its most vital and precious records, including long-lived plans for a regional records recovery center.  Cape May County, however, lacked the means to realize this vision.  Thanks to PARIS, the State Records Committee, the New Jersey Division of Archives and Records Management and the Department of State, Cape May received the funding and support needed to carry out this, and many other projects." Joining Ms. Fuliginiti was County Records Manager and PARIS Project Manager, Liz Shay.

Besides Cape May County, seven other local governments received a PARIS Award for Excellence.   Other recipients and award categories were Passaic County for “Public Access to Historical Records, pre-1925,” Atlantic County for “Enterprise-wide Approach to Electronic Records,” Monmouth County for “Shared Services: County-to-County,”  Camden County for “Shared Services: County-to-Municipalities,” Woodbridge Township for “Outstanding Project Management: Municipal,” Union County for “Outstanding Project Management: County,” and Gloucester County for “Comprehensive and Enterprise-Wide Approach to Archives and Records Management.”

The Public Archives and Records Infrastructure Support Grants Program is the nation’s leading state program for upgrading the security, integrity and efficiency of local government records administration.  Administered by the Division of Archives and Records Management (DARM) in the Department of State, PARIS distributes between $17 and $27 million annually to county and municipal governments to support archives and records management infrastructure improvements.  Since its inception in 2005, PARIS has emphasized comprehensive strategic planning, promoting intergovernmental shared services, and encouraged enterprise solutions to records management challenges in the electronic information age, transforming local governments’ business practices and responsiveness to citizens.

“It doesn’t get any better than this!” said Secretary Wells, commending the success of the PARIS program.  She continued, “Through a strong focus on shared services, more and more local governments are benefiting from the PARIS program, and counties and larger cities are offering centralized services.  This has created an increase in government efficiency, while realizing significant cost savings to taxpayers.”  Karl J. Niederer, Director of DARM, shared this view, stating “The model of cooperative intergovernmental shared services nurtured through PARIS – encouraging the 21 counties to become archives and records management “hubs” serving both the county and the municipalities within their borders – is worthy of emulation in other states.”

Allen Weinstein, who traveled to the event from the National Archives in Washington, D.C., expressed appreciation for the PARIS program and its successes achieved to date, stating “What you are accomplishing in New Jersey—working collaboratively through PARIS at all levels of government to improve local records preservation and access—meshes remarkably well with the strategic vision and mission of the National Archives.”

More information on the PARIS grants program may be found online at www.njarchives.org/links/paris.html.