ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — Preserving history is important, and on Tuesday, the Ector County Commissioners agreed to take a step forward in doing that.
Some records in the districts clerk's office date all the way back to the early 1900s.
"They're not just falling apart, the colors are bleeding and all of this, so this will lock those in and restore some of the damage that has been done," said Ector County District Clerk Clarissa Webster.
These documents hold generations of memories.
"It covers from birth certificates and marriage licenses, all the way to criminal documents, real estate and land deeds from way back," said County Commissioner Greg Simmons.
The documents will be scanned and put into a database so that they will be easy to access and lookup.
"What we're doing is taking all those books and putting them into a single digital system so that you can look up those items and find them within seconds, instead of hours and hours of searching through the logbooks," said Webster.
The project was funded by money from the American Rescue Plan Act and taxes.
"The project is close to $11 million over the 3-year project, but about $9 million of that will come from ARPA funding, which was funding that the federal government gave to local governments during the COVID process," said Simmons.
Something important for the past, present and future of Ector County.
"We're trying to preserve the history of Ector County," said Webster.