Board & Commission Meeting Records

Board & Commission Meeting Records | Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK

Board & Commission Meeting Records | Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK The Borough’s Electronic Records Management System (ERMS) is a suite of applications used to store records related to the Fairbanks North Star Borough. As part of our continued commitment to transparency, accessibility, and convenient access to public records, the Clerk’s Office is pleased to announce that the Board & Commission Meeting Records application is now available to the public. The application contains records relating to the business of Borough Boards and Commissions. Below is further information on the types of records available and how to search and retrieve records. BOARD & COMMISSION RECORDS APPLICATION WHAT RECORDS ARE AVAILABLE? The Boards and Commissions Application contains Action and Recommendation Memos (the past 10 years) Adopted Rules and Procedures Agenda Packets (the past 10 years) Audio/Video of Board and Commission meetings (video began in 2023) (the past 10 years) Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law Minutes and Resolutions Quasi-Judicial and Appeal Correspondence (the past 10 years) Not all document types listed above exist for every Board or Commission. Records not available in this application may still be available via a Public Records Request. Visit the Public Records Request Page. HOW DO I SEARCH? The landing page takes users directly to the search page of the application. Also called the index screen, users can enter specific criteria to search for records based on how they were indexed. Users can fill in one or multiple index fields to search. Once search criteria is entered, hit RUN to see the results. REVIEW OF ALL INDEX FIELDS BOARDS_AND_COMMISSIONS - This is a drop-down menu listing different Boards and Commissions. Users can select one or multiple Boards or Commissions from the drop-down menu. DOC_TYPE - this is a drop-down menu listing the different types of records available to search. Users can select one or multiple document types from the drop-down menu. For example, users could select Agenda Packets and Audio in this index field to return all Agenda Packets and Audio for all Boards and Commissions. Users can further narrow the search by using the Boards and Commissions index field above to select a specific Board or Commission. MEETING_DATE - This field is used to enter a specific date, or a date range. Dates are entered using the MM/DD/YYYY format. To enter a date range, click on the middle button next to the MEETING_DATE index field and enter in a date range. DESCRIPTION - This field is used by staff when entering Quasi Judicial or Appeal Correspondence. SCAN_DATE – this field is used for internal purposes to track when records are added to the database. Full-Text Search – This application allows for full text search using all words, any words, exact phrase or an expression. For example, a full text search for “Carlson Center” across all different document types could yield agenda packets, minutes, resolutions, etc. containing that phrase. Note: This method may not be 100% accurate due to the nature of OCR, which is the process of converting images of text into machine readable text. And / Or – Above and to the right of the full text search index field are the And/Or selection buttons. This is to allow users to search by a combination of index fields and the full text search, or just one or the other. NAVIGATING QUERY RESULTS AND INDIVIDUAL RECORDS NAVIGATING QUERY RESULTS Once search criteria is entered, the user selects the RUN button to reveal query results. Query results can be sorted by ascending or descending order by clicking any index field at the top of each column. For example, a query for all minutes and resolutions for the year 2025 will yield 80 results. You can sort the 80 records by Board and Commission, Meeting Date, etc. To open a document in the query results, double click anywhere on the row containing the document. Alternately, click on the blue circle icon and select “Open”. To preview a document without opening it, hover over the Page Icon in the second column on the left side of the page. NAVIGATING INDIVIDUAL RECORDS Documents will show page previews on the left of the screen. You can navigate through pages by clicking on the page previews or by selecting the blue arrow at the top left of the screen. Users can move through the query results by clicking on the blue arrows to the right of the screen. At the top right of the screen are options to Email, Export or Print a document. HOW OFTEN ARE NEW RECORDS ADDED? New records are added throughout the week. A general timeline for each document to be uploaded to the database is below Agenda Packet - one week after the meeting Action and Recommendation Memos – three business days following the meeting Approved Minutes and Resolutions – 1 to 2 weeks after approval or adoption Audio/Visual – one week after the meeting Adopted Rules and Procedures - 1 - 2 weeks after adoption Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law - 1 - 2 weeks after adoption Quasi-Judicial and Appeal Correspondence - 1 - 2 weeks after the hearing or appeal date SEARCH TIPS Wildcard Search – allows users to search an index field using partial information. Wildcard searches will return all records that have a matching phrase within the index field. For example, enter 03/*/2010 if you aren’t sure which day in March 2010 you’re looking for. Expressions – Next to the index fields are buttons allowing for expressions in a query – both a Range Search and a List Search Range Search – Allows users to enter a date range. Enter the range, click OK and your search criteria will be entered into the field. Click RUN to search. For example, users could search for a specific document type such as minutes and enter a date range for an entire calendar year. List Search – Allows user to enter in a list of field values. Enter the range, click OK and your search criteria will be entered into the field. Click RUN to search. For example, users could search for a specific document type such as Agenda Packets from years 2016, 2018, and 2020. View a one page guide to Full-Text Expression Operators when using the Full Text Search feature in the database. NEED MORE GUIDANCE? Please contact the Clerk's Office if you have questions or need more guidance on searching records in the Boards & Commissions Meeting Records Application. Adena Halpin, Deputy Clerk Elections/Records Management(907) [email protected] Government Websites by CivicPlus®