Issue - meetings

This report proposes next steps in determining a way forward for the future of the York City Archives service.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the proposed feasibility study be approved.

                        (ii)        That funding option A be approved and the full cost of buying in project leadership from the NRM be funded from reserves.

REASON:      To progress development of options for the future of the city archives.

Members considered a report which proposed the next steps in determining a way forward for the future of the City Archive.

Further to the recommendations from the Scrutiny review of the Archive service, undertaken in 2005, it had now been determined that it would not be possible through the tendering process to procure a service which met the Council’s requirements within the available budget.  It was therefore necessary to consider options for a revised in-house service.  It was not considered viable to retain the service in its current form, since this would not address concerns about the adequacy of existing facilities to house the collection, accessibility (including virtual access), level of use and links to other city initiatives.  It was therefore proposed to carry out a feasibility study to investigate options for governance structures.

The National Railway Museum had agreed to make available their Senior Curator, Knowledge and Access to lead this project, working an average of 3 days per week over a period of 9 months.  Members were invited to consider the following options to fund the cost of buying in project leadership, estimated at around £30k:

Option A – Fund the full amount from the Council’s reserves.

Option B – Partly offset the cost by keeping the half-time City Archivist post vacant during this period, saving £12k, and fund the remaining sum from reserves.

Officers confirmed that the proposals outlined in the report would not affect the funding decisions made at Budget Council in respect of the Archives.

Having considered the comments of the Shadow Executive, the comments made under Public Participation and the written comments on behalf of UNISON, it was

RESOLVED: (i)         That the proposed feasibility study be approved.¹

                        (ii)        That funding option A be approved and the full cost of buying in project leadership from the NRM be funded from reserves.

REASON:      To progress development of options for the future of the city archives.