ARO Spotlight: School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration

Millions of acres of Utah’s public lands have a story to tell. The School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) manages these lands, leasing them to generate revenue that benefits Utah’s public schools. Behind that work is a tremendous volume of records documenting land ownership, leases, transactions, and agency decisions.

At SITLA, Lisa Wells and Brigid Carney share responsibility for records management and responding to GRAMA requests. Although their roles look different, they work together to ensure the agency’s records are accurate, organized, and accessible. As Brigid puts it, they’re the “bookends” of the agency’s records.

We asked Lisa and Brigid to share more about their roles, current projects, and advice for fellow Records Officers.

What are your jobs, and how do records fit into your work?

Lisa: I am the Land Title Records Officer. My main duty is serving as the land title research analyst for the agency. I am responsible for the accuracy of land ownership information in the Business System and for updating necessary data to ensure agency transparency.

Brigid: I am a Paralegal, GRAMA Administrator, Records Officer, and Policy Coordinator. In addition to receiving and responding to public records requests, I help manage agency and board policies. My job is rapidly evolving with our new records management system. I will be conducting regular audits to determine proper system use, records classification, and compliance with our new retention schedules.

What’s one recent project you’ve worked on?

Lisa: I assisted in updating the Agency Business System to accurately link historical Certificates of Sale with land Patents. This project will improve the accuracy of metadata in the agency’s digital M-Files system.

Brigid: I serve on the agency’s new Records Governance Committee, which is working to establish consistent retention, classification, naming conventions, and metadata for records across all our repositories.

It’s been a challenging and rewarding project because of the variety of business areas we support, including oil and gas drilling, mineral extraction, grazing and agriculture leases, residential and commercial development, land sales and leasing, historical ownership records, federal land exchanges, GIS and information technology, legal, audit, and accounting, as well as our Board of Trustees and agency governance records.

When the new system goes live, the committee’s work will continue. We’ll answer questions, provide training, and review requested changes to the system. I’ll also be auditing system use and retention compliance using the new digital and AI tools.

What’s the most challenging part of your job?

Lisa: SITLA has a massive volume of documents dating back before statehood. These include many different record types related to land leasing and permitting, acquisition and disposition, land development, and more. The agency also operated under a previous entity, State Lands, before becoming Trust Lands in 1984, which can sometimes complicate research.

Digitizing these records takes patience, time, and a strong focus on accuracy. I can’t overstate how important accuracy is: “garbage in, garbage out.”

Brigid: As the GRAMA Administrator, I work to balance the need for transparency and providing records without cost against the statutory requirements we have to our beneficiaries.

Our agency administers a trust and has “a duty of undivided loyalty and strict requirement to administer the trust corpus for the exclusive benefit of the trust beneficiaries.” Those beneficiaries do not include other governmental institutions or agencies, the public at large, or the general welfare of the state (Utah Code 53C-1-102).

How do you divide records management responsibilities?

Lisa: My responsibility is organizing the land title records for our agency. Specifically, I manage records involving the acquisition and disposition of trust lands. These historical records need to be scanned and checked for accuracy, and paper documents must also be properly submitted to the State Archives for storage.

Brigid: We are “bookends” for the agency’s records. Lisa handles the records at the “start of the shelf,” and I handle the records at the “end of the shelf.” I manage the active records of the agency, including ongoing leases and projects, governance records, and reference materials. I’m also the point of contact for agency staff working with these records and their retention requirements.

What advice would you give to new Records Officers?

Lisa: My best advice for new Records Officers is to learn everything you can about the records residing in your agency. The more you understand the records, why they’re created, and how well they’re organized by retention, format, and storage, the better. Your agency will be able to locate documents and improve transparency in its records.

Brigid: Find all the records! People keep records and copies of records in creative and interesting places. Not having a central repository, or agency-approved repositories, creates a records-locating nightmare.

A GRAMA request isn’t fully answered if the records can’t be found. Retention can’t be enforced if multiple copies of records are spread across multiple locations. Often, team members aren’t aware of how they should be keeping records and need gentle guidance to get things organized.

Lisa and Brigid’s partnership demonstrates how records management responsibilities can complement one another. From preserving historical land ownership records to organizing active agency records and supporting public access, their work helps SITLA maintain the information needed to fulfill its mission and serve Utah’s public school beneficiaries.

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.