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HomeMy WebLinkAboutO-1990-1675 . . ORDINANCE NO. 1675 AN ORDINANCE GOVERNING RETENTION AND DISPOSITION OF PUBLIC CITY RECORDS 1 PROVIDING FOR THE MICROPHOTOGRAPHY, DESTRUCTION AND OTHER DISPOSITION OF PUBLIC RECORDS1 PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE1 FINDING COMPLIANCE WITH THE OPEN MEETINGS LAW 1 AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE HEREOF. WHEREAS, Subtitle C, Title 6, Texas Local Government Code, provides that any incorporated city may adopt an ordinance providing for the microphotography, destruction, or other disposition of public records, and WHEREAS, the City of La Porte desires to adopt an ordinance for that purpose and to provide for an orderly and efficient system of records retention, retrieval, and destruction1 NOW, THEREFORE: BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LA PORTE: Section 1. DEFINITION OF CITY RECORDS. All papers, correspondence, memoranda, accounts, reports, maps, plans, photographs, sound and video recordings, files, microforms, magnetic or paper tapes, magnetic or optical disks, punched cards, or other documents, regardless of physical form or characteristic, which have been or shall be created, received, filed, or recorded by any city office or department or its lawful successor, or officials thereof in pursuance of law or ordinance or in the conduct, transaction, or performance of any business, duty or function of public business, whether or not confidential or restricted in use, are hereby declared to be records of the City of La Porte, and shall be created, maintained, and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance or procedures authorized by it and in no other manner. Library and museum materials acquired solely for reference, exhibit, or display and stocks of publications shall not constitute records for purposes of this ordinance. Section 2. CITY RECORDS DECLARED ON PUBLIC PROPERTY. All city records as defined in Section I of this ordinance are hereby declared to be property of the City of La Porte. No City official or employee has, by virtue of his or her position, any personal or property right to such records even though he or she may have developed or compiled them. The unauthorized destruction, removal from files, or use of such records is prohibited. Section 3. POLICY. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the City of La Porte to provide for efficient, economical and effective controls over the creation, distribution, organization, maintenance, 'use, and disposition of all City records through a comprehensive system of integrated procedures for the management of records from their creation to their ultimate disposition. Section 4. RECORDS MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY ESTABLISHED. The City Secretary is hereby appointed the City Records Management Officer, and'is responsible for directing and coordinating all records management operations for City offices and departments. The City Secretary shall have the following records management responsibilities and duties, and other records management duties as assigned by the City Manager: 1. Plan~ formulate, and prescribe basic files management and records disposition policies, systems, standards, and procedures. 2. Prepare records retention schedules in cooperation with department heads for all City offices and departments and establish retention periods for all records. Retention periods shall be approved by department heads for departmental operating requirements and shall be approved by the City Attorney for legal requirements, and by the City Manager for overall city administrative and historical requirements. e . ORDINANCE NO. 1675 Page 2 3. Design and manage the operations of a Records Center for the low cost storage of inactive records, or contract with a commercial t'ecords center for the safe storage, servicing and disposal of the City records in accordance with established procedures. 4. Audit department compliance with records retention schedules, and report to the City Manager failure of any officer or department to comply with established records retention and disposition procedures. 5. Review retention schedules annually and update and amend as needed. 6. Define and identify vital records and establish vital records protection measures and procedures for protecting vital information, in order to enable the City to re-establish operations quickly and with the minimum of disruption and expense in the event of a local disaster. 7. Develop a uniform administrative subject file classification and indexing system for filing and controlling general subject file material, including a subject filing procedures manual. 8. Prepare, disseminate and maintain a records management procedures manual to meet the current and long-term information needs of the City. 9. Train department heads and other personnel in the fundamentals of records management and their duties and responsibilities in the records management program. 10. Provide records management advice and assistance to all City offices and departments through preparation and maintenance of a records management procedures manual, through training, and through on-site consultation. 11. Direct and coordinate all micrographic, magnetic or electronic image management operations or activities that may be deemed necessary and appropriate for the effective management of City records. 12. Establish a city-wide forms management program to control the initiation, design, use, printing, stocking, reordering of City forms, and the disposal of obsolete forms. 13. Establish and monitor compliance with standards for filing and storage equipment and supplies in all City offices and departments, and report to the City Manager failure of any officer or department to comply with standards. 14. Coordinate the city-wide records management program and report annually to the City Manager on program activities and accomplishments in each City department. 15. Develop procedures to insure the permanent preservation of the historically valuable records of the City. 16. Protect privacy and assure availability of public information from records stored in the records center7 bring to the attention of the City Manager any office not in compliance with laws and ordinances regarding public access to information or protection of privacy. 17. Prepare and submit annually to the City Manager the budget requirements for the records management operations to fulfill the records management goals of the City. e . ORDINANCE NO. 1675 Page 3 Section 5. OFFICB OF RBCORDS ADMINISTRATION. The City Secretary shall appoint a City Records Administrator who shall administer the City records management operations under the guidance and supervision of the City Secretary. The City Records Administrator shall perform all records management administrative functions assigned by the City Secretary in the fulfillment of the records management responsibilities specified in this ordinance. Section 6. RBSPONSIBILITIES OF CITY DEPARTMENT HBADS. All City office and department heads are responsible for the implementation and operation of effective files operations, records, transfers and dispositions, and other activities in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance within their areas of responsibility. They shall designate Records Coordinators within their offices and provide the City Secretary with the names of such designees and of all file stations and file custodians under their supervision. Persons designated as Records Coordinators shall report directly to the head of their department on matters relating to the records management program and should have full access to all files in their department., Section 7. RBSPONSIBILITIBS OF RBCORDS COORDINATORS. The Records Coordinator in each office or department is responsible for providing coordination between the City Secretary and personnel in his or her office to ensure the compliance with provisions of this ordinance. This responsibility shall include overseeing the implementation of records retention schedules and vital records protection schedules within the office or department. Section 8. CITY OFFICBS TO USE RECORDS RBTENTION SCHEDULBS. All City offices and departments shall adopt records retention schedules and destroy, transfer, or otherwise dispose of records only according to such schedules. Section 9. DEVELOPMENT OF RECORDS RETBNTION SCHEDULBS. Records retention schedules shall be prepared and approved in accordance with the Records Management Procedures Manual prepared by the City Secretary and approved by the City Manager. Any irreconcilable problems in obtaining agreement for operational, legal and city administrative and historical requirements from the department head, City Attorney and City Manager respectively, shall be submitted by the City Secretary to the City Manager for resolution and final disposition. Revision of retention periods shall be submitted for required approvals in the same manner as the original retention schedules. When a records retention schedule is approved at all required levels, it shall thenceforth constitute full authority to transfer, destroy or take other actions prescribed, and the City Council hereby directs that such action be taken by the City Secretary or under her supervision. The City Secretary shall notify the State Librarian of intended destruction of records, as required by law, but no further notice to the City Council shall be required. Section 10. ONE-TIME DBSTRUCTION OF OBSOLETE RECORDS. Prior to adoption of records schedules for an office, one-time destruction of accumulated, obsolete records of that office may be made by or under the supervision of the City Secretary. Prior to such destruction, the City Secretary shall submit lists of records to be destroyed to the City Manager and the City Attorney, who shall give notice within ten (10) working days: of any records they believe should not be destroyed; and such records shall be retained for a period suggested by either. The City Secre'tary shall also submit notice as required by law to the State Librarian. Obsolete records shall include those no longer created by the office or department and no longer needed for administrative, legal, fiscal, or other research purposes. e e ORDINANCE NO. 1675 Page 4 Section 11. PRESERVATION OF PERMANENT RECORDS. The City Secretary shall develop procedures to insure the permanent preservation of the historically valuable records of the City. The City Secretary shall provide housing under archival conditions for such records, in the Records Center, or in another municipal facility, and in such manner that the records, unless their use is restricted by law or regulation, are open to the public for research purposes. If City owned facilities are not available, the City Secretary shall arrange for the transfer of the records to the Texas State Library for perpetual care and preservation on one of its nearby Regional Historical Resource Depositories, or shall make other arrangements for their permanent preservation not contrary to law or regulation. In no circumstances, shall the permanent records of the city by transferred to private individuals, to private historical societies or museums, or to private colleges or universities. Section 12. NON-CURRENT RECORDS NOT TO BE MAINTAINED IN OFFICE FILES. Records no longer required in the conduct of current business by any office of the City shall be promptly transferred to the Records Center or archives or the State Library, or be destroyed, at the time such action is designated on an approved records retention schedule. Such records shall not be maintained in current office files or equipment. Section 13. MICROGRAPHICS PROGRAM ESTABLISHED. A centralized micrographics program shall be designed and implemented by the City Secretary to serve all City offices and departments. No office or department shall operate a separate micrographics program, and no City funds may be expended to film, or to contract with a service company to film, any City records, except with the approval of the City Secretary. Section 14. RECORDS TO BE MICROPHOTOGRAPHED. The City Secretary shall determine how long the various records of the City could be stored, before the cost of storage during their retention periods, would exceed the cost of preserving them in microfilm. In making this determination, the City Secretary shall compare long- term lease of low-cost storage facilities, in additian to, or in place of, any records storage building operated by the City, with the cost of microphotography. In calculating comparative costs, the City Secretary shall consider document preparation and refiling time of staff, and other indirect costs of micrographics, as well as the cost of separate archival storage for master negatives of microfilm. Records determined to be more economically stored on microfilm shall be microphotographed and, in addition, the City Secretary shall include the following types of records in the micrographic program: 1. Those which the Records Management Officer determined are of historical value and whose preservation are best insured by microphotographing the records on archival quality film. 2. Those which because of the nature of the information they contain are indispensable to the continued operations of an office and, therefore, should be micrQphotographed to provide a security copy. 3. Those which because of high volume use require frequent and/or large number of copies to be made which could be made most efficiently or economically through microfilm. Section 15. MICROGRAPHICS STANDARDS. Microfilm used for archival or security purposes as outlined in Section 14 must meet the technical standards for quality, density, resolution, and definition of the American National Standards Institute as required by law. The master negatives of such film shall not be used for making use copies and shall be stored off-site under the environmental and security standards of the American National . e ORDINANCE NO. 1675 Page 5 Standards Institute. Microform records must be indexed. The City Secretary or an authorized deputy shall check and certify that a microform record is a true and accurate duplication of the original record and shall cause to be included as part of the microform record certification images to that effect. All microfilming shall be done in accordance with Texas State Library and Archives Commission standards and procedures. Section 16. ACCBSSIBI~ITY OF RECORDS ON MICROFORM. The public is hereby given identical access to records on microform to which they would be entitled under law if the records were in an other medium. Section 17. The City Council officially finds, determines, recites and declares that a sufficient written notice of the date, hour, place and subject of this meeting of the City Council was posted at a place convenient to the public at the City Hall of the City for the time required by law preceding this meeting, as required by the Open Meetings Law, Article 6252-17, Texas Revised Civil Statutes Annotated; and that this meeting has been open to the public as required by law at all times during which this ordinance and the subject matter thereof has been discussed, considered and formally acted upon. The City Council further ratifies, approves and confirms such written notice and the contents and posting thereof. Section 18. This Ordinance shall be effective from and after its passage and approval. PASSED AND APPROVED, this 22nd~day of January , 1990. LA PORTE ATTEST: ~~ Cherie Black' , City Secretary APPROVED: ~~ Knox W. Askins City Attorney