Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

SISTER LAKES — The Silver Creek Township Board made a move that will free up space at the Silver Creek Township Hall.

The board moved to approve the scanning and digitizing of building plans by Graphic Sciences Inc. for the building department during Wednesday’s board meeting at Silver Creek Township Hall.

The digitizing will be done in accordance with the retention schedule and will cost no more than $7,000. The cost includes any necessary budget amendment or line-item transfer to cover this expense.

According to its website, Madison Heights-based Graphic Sciences Inc. provides its clients with services including systems design and implementation, hardware and software sales, support and maintenance, and document conversion services including paper to microfilm, paper to digital, digital microfilm and image file format conversion.

The move was made because the building department is required by law to keep records of building plans indefinitely unless it has been 20 years since a building was torn down, according to Township Clerk Laurie Behnke.

According to Behnke, Graphic Sciences Inc. will scan each building plan, digitize them and store them on a thumb drive for the township to use. The company is approved by the state, whereas the township scanning its own documents would not meet the state’s retention specifications.

Behnke said the price is roughly $1 a page with more than 6,000 pages of building plans needing to be digitized.

“It’s going to be well worth it to save office space,” she said. “When you have to keep stuff forever, it takes up a lot of space. I can’t imagine having to go down into the basement, dig through boxes and try to find something. This company is terrific.”

Once the project is completed, Behnke said the township is considering utilizing Graphic Sciences Inc. to digitize documents from other township departments in the future.