Digitize and Rehabilitate: Two Birds, One Stone

Recently Montgomery County, MD was awarded the National Association of Counties' Best of Category Achievement Award in the County Administration and Management category because an innovative budget saving partnership between two county departments. It seems that the Department of Permitting Services' (DPS) efforts to digitize its construction documents resulted in running over budgets due to a large temporary staff it utilized for the activity. Instead of slowing production it was decided that collaborating with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation might be a better option--and it was. In return for imaging documents, Montgomery County Corrections Facility inmates get job training on modern computers while the county provides fast, valuable service to the community. Here is a list of some of the benefits:

• up-to-date job skills for the inmate population
• improved likelihood for their success upon departure from the Montgomery County Corrections Facility
  
• provided income for inmates
• heightened personal esteem for participants
• improved service to DPS customers and staff
• faster response to customer requests for information & documents
• reduced DPS operating costs & storage needs
• secure access to documents by users
• easy document reproduction by all DPS staff  

Montgomery County addressed several objectives at once--improve customer service, lower recidivism, reduce paper waste and lower program costs. As the need to do more with less grows stronger, programs such as this will be more appealing to local and state governments alike.