4 Hartford Business Journal • September 26, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com
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Valente
of boxes needed. Boxes can range in size from
1.2 cubic feet and up.
Valente estimates he has about 300 cus-
tomers. There are 10 employees, including 6
full-timers.
In this age of high technology, in which
documents can be stored digitally via the
"cloud," Valente is not worried about his busi-
ness becoming obsolete.
"If you're going to scan everything, I'd (still)
keep my records for at least two to three more
years before I destroyed them; just to have
them,'' he said. "There is no backup on the
cloud, as far as I can see. You don't know where
it is. And how HIPPA-compliant is it?" (The
Health Insurance Portability and Account-
ability law — known as HIPPA — establishes
privacy guidelines to protect patient records.)
As an example of how technology has its
faults, Valente notes that in the early 1990s,
one of his clients invested heavily in scan-
ning employee health-benefit documents.
As a backup to the scans, Capitol stored the
papers in about 2,000 boxes.
"Then one day I get a call and someone says
'do not destroy those boxes ever because we
can only account for 25 percent of what was
scanned,' '' Valente said. "I don't think we'll
ever be without paper. I mean, we'll have less,
but I don't think we'll ever be without paper."
Over the years, Capitol's document-res-
toration services have also come in handy.
There was the time 10 years ago when a law
firm's basement flooded, damaging many
documents. The installation of a dehumidi-
fier by the firm made it worse. But over the
next 18 months, Valente said his company
was able to re-wet the docs, remove the mold
and restore the paperwork.
Frank Valente Sr. died in 2006.
Valente Jr. fondly recalls his at times con-
tentious interactions with his father, who he
describes as business savvy, but more frugal
than him. The two would often travel to auc-
tions to buy metal storage racks at bargain
prices. As Frank Jr. began to control more of
the business, he still found himself bickering
with dad about expenses.
"I say this as a joke," Valente Jr. said. "If I need-
ed to buy a pencil I had to give my father a spread-
sheet to see if the cash flow was there to handle
it. He taught me to work within the cash flow."
In the next few years, Capitol may be
facing a new challenge. The state plans to
rebuild and replace the I-84 section that runs
through Hartford.
That would mean the likely purchase of
Valente's four-story Laurel Street building
through imminent domain.
The proceeds from the Laurel Street building
would likely help Valente finance a new building.
Until the state's plans are approved, it's
an option this archivist will have to keep
filed away. n
Stan Simpson is the principal of Stan Simp-
son Enterprises LLC, a strategic communica-
tions consulting firm. He is also host of "The
Stan Simpson Show," which airs Saturday,
5:30 a.m., on Fox CT or www.fox61.com/stan.
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Frank Valente Jr.'s Laurel Street storage center could be seized by eminent domain as part of plans to rebuild I-84.
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