Form revised December 4, 2006

FISCAL NOTE FOR NON-CAPITAL PROJECTS

Department:	Contact Person/Phone:	DOF Analyst/Phone:
Legislative	Julie Viggiano 3-5160

Legislation Title: An Ordinance establishing a Digital Image Management Program within the Seattle Municipal Archives; requiring the documentation therein of capital improvement projects of the City; authorizing the City Archivist to administer the program and to promulgate regulations pertaining to the capture and submission of digital photography by city agencies; and adding a new chapter to Title 3, Subtitle VI of the Seattle Municipal Code.

· Summary of the Legislation:

The purpose of this legislation is to establish within the Seattle Municipal Archives a Digital Image Management Program through which the City can facilitate and ensure the adequate capture, storage, and provision of access to digital photographic records which are vital to the history, heritage, and business of the City of Seattle. This legislation provides authority to the City Archivist to implement standards and procedures to document capital improvement projects and other projects; establish and manage a pool of contract photographers and other archives approved photographers; provide assistance and training to city employees; and establish administrative rules and regulations. This legislation will ensure that the visual record of Seattle will be complete and capable of providing documentation as necessary to managing risk as well as support the legal and engineering interests of the City. It will also allow the development of tools to monitor departments' compliance and provide resources for long term preservation of the digital photograph collection.

· Background: (Include brief description of the purpose and context of legislation and include record of previous legislation and funding history, if applicable):

Official City photos provide critical records of the changing infrastructure of the City for documentation in legal cases, for risk management, for use as points of reference for building, transportation, and utility initiatives, and as pictorial records of civic leaders and employees. There is significant historic and research value to these records.

In 1996, the City photographic services unit was transferred from the Engineering Department to the Fleets and Facilities Department (FFD). Limited organizational support and direction had been provided to the program thus diluting the program's original purpose. The program had increasing difficulty meeting the overall objective of photographing the City's major projects, due primarily to FFD's implementation of a fee-for-service funding model, which created disincentive for City departments to use the services of the program for visual documentation of their works and capital projects. The fee-for-service approach and the proliferation of digital cameras reduced the amount of photographic resources available to the City and ultimately the historic record.

Then in 2004, the photography unit was removed from the Fleets and Facilities Department and all funding suspended. Since then, the City has relied on individual departments to take or contract out their own photography which has resulted in inconsistency with regard to photographic priorities and vulnerability in the pictorial record of the City of Seattle.

When the City photography unit was removed from the Fleets and Facilities Department a budget action was also taken to transfer the existing catalog of digital photography, known as Image Bank, from FFD to the Legislative Department. This budget action included a recommendation that the Council pass legislation that would require departments' compliance with established photographic standards and the provisions of a Digital Image Management program.

With the transfer of Image Bank, the Office of the City Clerk embarked on developing a visual documentation services program, the mission of which is closely aligned with that of the City Clerk, to make documentation accessible for widespread use. Since 2004, this program has developed standards for capture, description, and storage of digital photographs, established a city-wide training program to ensure that those City employee's responsible for digital photographs have the information necessary for working with the Archives, created a pool of 10 contract photographers able to service City department's at varying price points, and has established an InWeb presence containing the tools and information departments need to comply with this legislation.

The new Digital Image Management Program will support the ongoing work of the City, especially capital improvements, and will supply important resources for the City's current and future legal and engineering work, as well as supply publications and agencies within and outside the City with current and historic images of public works projects, infrastructure, significant events, and public figures.

· Please check one of the following:

__x__ This legislation does not have any financial implications. (Stop here and delete the remainder of this document prior to saving and printing.) No additional appropriations are needed to implement the program.