Reading To Upgrade Public Records System With New State Grant

READING, MA — Reading will soon look to improve access to town public records thanks to a batch of new grant funding from the state, Town Manager Fidel Maltez said on Wednesday.

The town will get $85,000 through the state’s Community Compact Program. An initiative of Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, the Community Compact Program is including Reading’s funding in a larger package of $7 million in individual awards to municipalities announced this week.

Reading’s money is earmarked for “implementation of a records management system,” according to the state. Contacted on Wednesday, Maltez told Patch the funds will upgrade local management of municipal public records.

Money will also automate several key Town Hall functions currently handled using paper copies of documents and records, according to Maltez.

“We are appreciative to the Commonwealth for the ongoing support to our Town as we modernize our day-to-day operations,” Maltez said.

The Community Compact Programs dates back to 2015, when it formed alongside the new Community Compact Cabinet.

Polito helms the group with a goal of strengthening partnerships between municipalities and the state.

The mission, Baker said this week, has brought dividends over the past seven years.

“Through its efforts, the Community Compact Program has successfully institutionalized a culture of collaboration, mutual accountability and support that will serve the Commonwealth’s communities and residents well going forward and make Massachusetts a better place to live and work,” Baker said in a statement.

Baker and Polito, who will be leaving their roles as governor and lieutenant governor in the coming weeks, have won praise for their work and relationships with municipal leaders and municipal governments.

A report from the Rappaport Institute at the Harvard Kennedy School in September examined that relationship, saying Baker and Polito “improved localities’ abilities to deliver for their residents,” among other things.

Polito has individually noted frequent in-person visits to municipalities over her tenure. With this year’s election cycle in full swing in recent months, those visits prompted some questions about how the state’s next lieutenant governor would interpret their role, as documented in a July article by the State House News Service.

Polito discussed her work with the Community Compact Cabinet on Wednesday, noting grant funding to date as she helped announce 78 total new grants for programs spanning 150 Massachusetts communities.

“It has been a privilege to serve as Chair of the Community Compact Cabinet and to work alongside so many dedicated municipal officials across the Commonwealth to create a sustainable and effective model for state-local collaboration,” Polito said.

Reading has received money through the Community Compact Cabinet before, recently getting roughly $192,000 for expanded fiber optic infrastructure in June.

Community Compact grant programs span categories focused on promoting municipal best practices, IT upgrades, efficiency and regionalization of services and municipal fiber network projects.

The most recent round of grants this week funded items under the compact’s IT and efficiency and regionalization programs.