HomeMy WebLinkAboutO-2022-3866 to update the City's records and information management programORDINANCE 2022-3866
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE RECORDS AND
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR THE CITY OF LA PORTE, TEXAS;
DESIGNATING THE CITY SECRETARY AS THE RECORDS MANAGEMENT
OFFICER; PROVIDING GENERAL OUTLINE OF DUTIES; PROVIDING
OWNERSHIP OF MUNICIPAL RECORDS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF OFFICERS
AND EMPLOYEES WITH RESPECT THERETO; PROVIDING FOR DESTRUCTION
OF ORIGINAL MUNICIPAL PUBLIC RECORDS AND FOR ALL OTHER MUNICIPAL
RECORDS; PROVIDING FOR THE REPEAL OF ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT
HEREWITH; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; FINDING COMPLIANCE WITH
THE TEXAS OPEN MEETINGS ACT; PROVIDING FOR CODIFICATION; AND
CONTAINING OTHER PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE SUBJECT
WHEREAS, the Texas Local Government Records Act required the governing body of each local
government to adopt an ordinance, order, or plan establishing a records management program
before January 1, 1991; and
WHEREAS, the City of La Porte established an active and continuing program for the efficient and
economical management of all City of La Porte records on January 22, 1990, and now desires
to update the records management program provide for an orderly and efficient system of
records retention, retrieval, and destruction of the City's records; now, therefore,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LA PORTE, TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Purpose.
Recognizing that the citizens of La Porte have a right to expect, and the City has an obligation to foster,
efficient and cost-effective government, and recognizing the central importance of local government
records in the lives of all citizens, the City Council of the City of La Porte finds that:
1) the efficient management of local government records is necessary for the effective operation of
the City;
2) the preservation of City records of permanent value is necessary to provide staff, residents, and
those providing services to and doing business with resources concerning their history and to
document their rights of citizenship and property;
3) convenient access to advice and assistance based on well -established and professionally recognized
records management techniques and practices is necessary to promote the establishment of sound
records management programs in local governments; and
4) the establishment of uniform standards and procedures for the maintenance, preservation,
microfilming, or other disposition of local government records is necessary to fulfill these
important public purposes.
It is declared to be the policy of the City to have a robust resilient records and information management
program that oversees efficient, economical, and effective creation, distribution, organization, maintenance,
use, and disposition of all City records through a comprehensive system of integrated procedures.
SECTION 2. Definitions.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this division, shall have the meanings ascribed to
them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Commission means director and librarian of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
(TSLAC). The director and librarian of TSLAC monitor standards in the fields of information and
records management developed for use by federal agencies or adopted by national organizations to set
standards and recommend any needed amendments to rules and practices.
• Custodian means the appointed or elected public officer who by the state constitution, state law,
ordinance, or administrative policy is in charge of an office that creates or receives City government
records.
• Department means a City department, division, or the functional equivalent.
• Department director/division manager means the officer who by ordinance, order, or administrative
policy is in charge of an office of the City.
• Digital, when used in reference to a record, means the record is maintained in an electronic data format
that requires an electronic device to create, store, access, retrieve, or read the record.
• Employee means a person employed by the City.
• Essential record means any record of the City necessary to the resumption or continuation of operations
of the City in an emergency or disaster, to the recreation of the legal and financial status of the City, or
to the protection and fulfillment of obligations to the people of the state. (These are sometimes referred
to as vital records, but the City will reserve that term for birth/death/marriage records, as retained by
Harris County.)
• Local Government Records Act means Title 6 (Records), Subtitle C (Records Provisions Applying to
More Than One Type of Local Government), of the Texas Local Government Code, and includes the
rules adopted by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
• Permanent record and record of permanent value mean any City record for which the retention period
on a records retention schedule issued by the state library and archives commission is given as
permanent.
• Physical, when used in reference to a record, means that the record is maintained in a tangible form,
such as paper, photographic film, analog tape, or a similar medium.
• Records retention schedule (or records control schedule) means a document prepared by or under the
authority of the Records Management Officer listing the records maintained by the City, their retention
periods, and other records disposition information that the records management program may require.
• Records liaison officers means the persons designated under Section 8.
• Records management/records and information management (RIM) means the application of
management techniques to the creation, use, maintenance, retention, preservation and disposal of
records for the purposes of reducing the costs and improving the efficiency of recordkeeping. The term
records management includes the development of records retention schedules, the management of
filing and information retrieval systems, the protection of essential and permanent records, the
economical and space -effective storage of inactive records, control over the creation and distribution
of forms, reports, and correspondence, and the management of micrographics and electronic and other
records storage systems. The term Records and Information Management (RIM} Program also includes
the plan developed under Section 4.
• Records management officer means the person designated in Section 5.
• Retention period means the minimum time that must pass after the creation, recording or receipt of a
record, or the fulfillment of certain actions associated with a record, before it is eligible for destruction.
Nomenclature: The following conventions apply for the normative specifications in this
Recommended Practice:
a) the words `shall' and `must' imply a binding and verifiable specification;
b) the word `should' implies an optional, but desirable, specification;
c) the word `may' implies an optional specification;
d) the words `is', 'are', and `will' imply statements of fact.
Note — These conventions do not imply constraints on diction in text that is clearly informative in
nature.
SECTION 3. City Records Declared Public Property.
All City records are declared to be property of the City. No City officer or employee shall have, by virtue
of his office or employment, any personal or property right to any such records even though he or she may
have developed or compiled them. No person shall destroy, remove, or use any City record except as
authorized by law or the policies and procedures of the City. However, no policy or procedure regarding
use, removal, or destruction of City records shall be adopted which conflicts with this division or applicable
state or federal law, and nothing contained in this division shall be construed to authorize the disclosure of
City records which are exempt from disclosure under state or federal law.
SECTION 4. Records and Information Management (RIM) Program.
There is established a records and information management (RIM) program. The City Secretary shall
administer the records and information management program and shall be responsible for Citywide files
management. In addition, the City Secretary shall have direction and control of the City's records disposition
program. This program shall be created and conducted in accordance with State law and the
recommendations of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
SECTION 5. Duties of the Records Management Officer (RMO).
A. The City Secretary is the Records Management Officer (RMO) under Local Government Code, §
203.025 (Designation of Records Management Officer) for the City, and shall:
1) appoint a City Records Manager to implement this chapter, who shall be subject to the direction of
the City Secretary/RMO;
2) develop, implement, and administer a Citywide records management program that complies with
the Local Government Records Act;
3) coordinate, and to the extent practicable, standardize records management practices among City
departments and divisions;
4) chair any City records or information governance or oversight committee:
5) serve on any City technology governance or oversight committee;
6) prepare, review, and approve each new and amended records retention schedule for each City
department, and make necessary changes to the schedules at intervals set by the records
management program;
7) receive reports from the City Records Manager for noncompliance with the records management
program by a department director, City employee, or City contractor;
8) provide storage, retrieval, and destruction services for physical records no longer required to be
kept in active office space and transferred to the records center;
9) provide support for Citywide document and imaging management systems and services designed
to manage digital records;
10) provide consulting services and training to departments and employees on the implementation of
the records management program, records and information technology requirements, and other
subjects related to records and information management;
11) assist department/division records liaisons to identify essential records and establish a disaster
recovery plan for records; and
12) develop procedures to ensure the permanent preservation of the historically valuable records of the
City.
B. Subject to the direction of the City Secretary, the City Records Manager may perform a duty assigned
by this section to the City Secretary.
SECTION 6. Records Management Program.
A. The Records Manager shall submit the records management program to the City Secretary for approval.
The records management program approved by the City Secretary is the City's records management
program.
B. The records management program must:
1) comply with the Local Government Records Act;
2) to the extent practicable, standardize records management practices among City departments;
3) in cooperation with the commission, establish guidelines for the implementation of records
retention schedules;
4) establish training requirements for department records liaisons;
5) establish guidelines for City information technology systems and services to ensure that the systems
and services create, store, manage, protect, preserve, dispose of, and provide access to records in
compliance with the records management program;
6) establish guidelines for the destruction of records, including the information that must be
maintained in a destruction log;
7) improve the efficiency of record -keeping;
8) enable the City Secretary to perform the duties prescribed by this chapter;
9) establish guidelines and eligibility criteria for transferring records to microfilm, or to an electronic
or digital format, including guidelines for the disposition of records that have been transferred;
10) provide adequate protection of the essential records of the City, including a disaster recovery plan
for records;
11) regulate the operations and use of the storage building serving as the depository of inactive records
with continuing value to the City; and
12) establish guidelines to ensure the preservation of long-term or permanent physical and digital
records of the City.
SECTION 7. Duties of a Councilperson/Council Office.
A. Councilpersons shall maintain any record created or received by the Councilperson or the
Councilperson's office in compliance with the records management program.
B. Unless the City Secretary is the records management officer for a Councilperson's office, the
Councilperson must perform the duties of the records liaison as if the Councilperson's office were a
department/division, or allow the City Secretary's office to assume those duties.
SECTION 8. Responsibilities of Department Directors/Division Managers.
All City department directors/division managers are responsible for the implementation and operation of
effective files operations, record transfers and dispositions, and other activities within their areas of
responsibility. They shall designate records liaisons within their offices and provide the City
Secretary/RMO and Records Manager the names of such designees and of all file categories and storage
locations under their supervision. Persons designated as records liaisons shall report directly to the director
of their department/manager of their division on matters relating to the records management program and
should have appropriate access to all files in their department.
In the event of the resignation, retirement, dismissal, or removal by action of the department/division head
of a person designated as a records liaison officer, the department/division head shall promptly designate
another person to fill the vacancy. A department/division head may serve as records liaison officer for the
department/division.
SECTION 9. Responsibilities of Records Liaisons.
Each records liaison shall:
1) cooperate with the City Secretary to implement the records management program in the
department/division;
2) distribute information about the records management program to department/division employees;
3) ensure that the creation, storage, retention, destruction, disposition, security, and accessibility of
the department's/division's records are in compliance with the records management program;
4) identify essential records of the department and establish, implement, and maintain a records
disaster recovery plan;
5) review the department/division practices at intervals set by the City Secretary to determine if they
comply with the records management program;
6) review each new information technology system or system enhancement to ensure that the system
or system enhancement addresses and complies with the records management program; and
7) notify the City Secretary within 24 hours of the discovery of any loss, theft, or damage to a
department record.
SECTION 10. Department/Division Information Management Teams.
A. Each department/division shall have an information management team consisting o£
i ) the department's/division's information administrator, who is the chair of the team;
2) a City Secretary's staff member; and
3) for a department that has more than one division or physical location:
a) at least one employee, designated by the director, who is responsible for information
management in each division in the department; and
b) at least one employee, designated by the director, who is responsible for information
management in each separate location of the department.
B. The information management team shall:
1) meet at intervals set by the information management program;
2) review the records retention schedule and records management practices at intervals set by the
City's Records Management Officerto determine whetherthe departmental/divisional practices are
in compliance with the information management program, and implement corrective action for
program compliance;
3) complete reports required by the City's Records Management Officer; and
4) complete training required by the information management program.
SECTION 11. Records Retention Schedules.
The Records Management Officer and Records Manager, in compliance with the latest TSLAC record
retention schedules, as amended, shall review the City's program to determine if City practices justify
additional modification of the schedules.
SECTION 12. Records Storage.
The City Secretary shall coordinate with the City Manager and IT Manager maintain adequate records
storage, both physically and digitally, as needed to properly administer the City's records management
program.
The Records Management Officer shall determine if a City archives is necessary for the security and
maintenance of and access to historical materials. If established, the Records Management Officer shall
establish policies and procedures regulating the operations and use of such archives.
SECTION 13. 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 is posted at a place convenient
to the public at the City Hail of the City for the time required by law preceding this meeting, as required by
Chapter 551, Texas Government Code; 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 14. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval.
PASSED AND APPROVED this, the.w day ofUyac—qa4,2022.
CITY OF LA PORTE, TEXAS
Louis
APPROVED:
T
Clark T. Askins, Assistant City Attorney