We recently enjoyed attending the California Special Districts Association (CSDA) 2024 Board Secretary/Clerk Conference. There, our team connected with many forward-thinking professionals dedicated to enhancing transparency, governance, and records management for California’s special districts. Representing CPS were Claude Schott, CFO, and Jamie Dunn, our VP of Sales. This year’s conference proved to be a good experience, with engaging discussions, good booth traffic, and unique insights that underscored the critical needs and challenges of the special district community.
Laserfiche was also present with its own booth, offering an opportunity to collaborate closely on the conference floor. Jamie found meeting smaller agencies and new clients from northern California especially valuable, fostering connections that can help broaden CPS's impact. Claude observed two prominent themes that sparked meaningful conversation: transparency and disaster recovery.
Transparency took center stage mainly because of the growing interest in the District Transparency Certificate of Excellence issued by the Special District Leadership Foundation (SDLF). This program honors special districts for their dedication to transparency and good governance, essential qualities for agencies committed to serving their communities effectively. To achieve the award, districts must meet essential transparency requirements: providing ethics training for all board members, conducting open and accessible meetings, and ensuring that financial transactions are filed with the State Controller’s Office. With the award issued every three years, many agencies were eager to discuss how CPS could help streamline the processes needed to obtain and retain this certification.
The second central theme was disaster recovery, a concern for many agencies following recent wildfires. Special districts recognize the need to safeguard critical records and ensure seamless access to essential information during emergencies. CPS’s records management and enterprise content management (ECM) solutions, such as our optimized Laserfiche implementations, are designed to bolster disaster recovery efforts and minimize disruptions to essential services.
One of the unique aspects of working with special districts is their often limited focus on records management and ECM compared to municipalities. More than half of the attendees needed an introductory overview of ECM and Laserfiche basics, with some agencies entirely new to records management technology. CPS took this as a valuable opportunity to educate and inspire attendees about the benefits of implementing ECM and records management (RM) solutions to promote compliance, transparency, and efficiency, understanding the unique needs of each district.
Jamie mentioned the possibility of focusing on water districts for future events, emphasizing the importance of customizing solutions to fit the unique needs of various special district types. As a gesture of appreciation, CPS handed out custom-made cookies at our booth—a sweet way to share our message.
Reflecting on the event, CPS is inspired by the commitment shown by California’s special districts toward advancing transparency and resilience. By equipping them with the right tools and resources, we’re dedicated to helping these agencies meet and exceed the transparency standards outlined by SDLF while addressing the pressing need for disaster recovery and records management solutions.
We look forward to next year’s event and continuing our partnerships with California’s special districts, providing them with tailored ECM and RM solutions to help them thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape.
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