Many people struggle with the amount of paper documents that must be saved. The problem is even more significant for town offices. The paper trail is growing deeper largely because of the complexity of property transfers. People are taking out home equity loans, refinancing mortgages and selling property after owning it a short time. All that generates paperwork that towns must keep on file.

Colchester, Vermont Town Clerk Karen Richard is leading a charge to move all of thier paper records to an electronic format. The move is designed to reduce the space and associated costs with storing everything on paper.