[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of Dover 11-11-1992 by L.L. No. 5-1992; amended in its entirety 10-24-2012 by L.L. No.
5-2012. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Public access to records — See Ch. 23.
Records are essential to the administration of local government.
They contain the information that keeps government programs functioning.
It is the intent of this chapter that a records management program
is established which will assist officials in making decisions, administering
programs and providing administrative continuity with past operations.
The program is intended to document the delivery of services, show
the legal responsibilities of government and protect the legal rights
of citizens. It will contain information on taxation and on the management
and expenditure of funds. These records will also document the historical
development of government itself, the community and the people of
the Town.
A.
There shall be a records management program established under the
aegis of the Town Clerk and headed by a Records Management Officer.
The Town Clerk is designated as the Records Management Officer (RMO)
and will be responsible for administering the current and archival
public records in storage areas for the Town in accordance with local
state and federal laws and guidelines.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Those official records which have been determined by the
Officer and Advisory Committee to have sufficient historical or other
value to warrant the continued preservation by the Town.
Official files, minutes and documents, books, papers, photographs,
sound recordings, microforms or any other materials whether in print,
electronic and digital forms, including but not limited to records
scanned into an electronic content document management system versions,
made or received pursuant to law or in conjunction with transaction
of official Town business.
A central storage area maintained by the Records Management
Officer for the storage, servicing, security, and processing of records
which must be preserved by varying periods of time.
The removal by the Town of Dover, in accordance with approved
records control schedules, of the records no longer necessary for
the conduct of business by such agency through removal methods, which
may include the disposition of temporary records by destruction (i.e.,
secure shredding), degaussing or overwriting or donation or transfer
of records to central storage facility for records by scheduled retention
periods or permanent storage of records determined to have historical
or sufficient value warranting continued preservation or the transfer
of records from one Town agency to another Town agency.
The planning, controlling, directing, organizing, training,
promotion and other managerial activities involved in records creation,
records maintenance and use and records disposition, including records
preservation, records disposal and the records center or other storage
facilities.
Making information in records available to agency for official
use or to the public.
The Records Management Officer shall have all the necessary
power to carry out the efficient administration, determination of
value, use, preservation, storage and disposition of the public records
kept, filed or received by the officers and departments of the Town.
A.
The Records Management Officer shall continually survey and examine
public records to recommend their classification so as to determine
the most suitable method to be used for maintaining, storing and servicing
them under the following guidelines:
(1)
Disposition. Records deemed obsolete and unnecessary according to
the New York State Retention and Disposition Schedule are subject
to disposition.
(2)
Archival retention. Information containing administrative, legal,
fiscal, research, historical or educational value which warrants their
permanent retention.
(3)
Active retention. Records not yet subject to disposition according
to state law.
B.
The Records Management Officer and the IT Department shall establish
guidelines for proper records security and management of user active
directory applications as well as for records stored in an ECDMS of
the Town government.
C.
The Records Management Officer shall report annually to the governing
body on the powers and duties herein mentioned, including but not
limited to the development and progress of programs to date and planning
activities for subsequent years.
D.
The Records Management Officer shall operate a central records management
storage facility for storage, processing and servicing of all Town
records for all Town departments and agencies.
E.
Additional requirements of the Records Management Officer include
but are not limited to:
(1)
The development of a comprehensive records management program. Software
applications used by Town departments must have concurrent policies
and procedures established for the creation, use and management of
records prepared using these programs.
(2)
The conduct of an initial survey and analysis of all records, to
be followed up annually with a report of records stored.
(3)
The encouragement and coordination of the continuous legal destruction
of obsolete records through the adoption and use of the State Archive
Record Retention and Disposition Schedules.
(4)
The development of suitable retention periods for records not covered
by the State Records Retention and Disposition Schedules. (Subsequently,
the RMO must secure approval of such retention periods from the New
York State Commissioner of Education and gain adoption from the Town
Board of any proposed change before the retention period takes effect.)
(5)
The assistance to each department for the establishment of a records
management system to support the overall Town Records Management Program.
Encourage the continued efficient management of records within respective
departments.
(6)
The setting up and overseeing of a center for the storage area.
(7)
Maintaining archival materials which are not official Town records
but which have historical value to the community or a close relationship
to the existing archival collection. This shall be subject to archive
space, staff and cost limitations and to the potential endangerment
of such materials if they are not collected by the archives.
(8)
The coordinating and carrying out or participating in the planning
for development of advanced records management systems and equipment.
(9)
The preparation of special and annual reports for the Town Board
on records management program progress, cost savings and cost avoidance
problems and additional issues.
(10)
To provide Town staff with ongoing training, updates and technical
assistance on comprehensive records management policies and procedures.
F.
Oversee all requests for records storage equipment, microfilm equipment,
etc., and coordinate and participate in the planning for the expansion
of micrographic and automated data systems.
A.
There shall be a Records Advisory Board designated to work closely
with and provide advice to the Records Management Officer. The Board
shall consist of five members, suggested but not limited to the following
areas: Town Historian, a department head, a Council person, a library
representative, a member of the IT Department and a member of the
community. Appointments shall be made by the Supervisor. The Board
shall meet periodically and have the following duties based on the
following:
(1)
May provide advice to the Records Management Officer on the development
of the records management program.
(2)
May review the performance of the program on an ongoing basis and
propose changes and improvements.
(3)
Must review any changes in retention periods proposed by the Records
Management Officer for records not covered by the state archive schedules.
(4)
May provide advice on the appraisal of records for archival value
and to be the final sign-off entity as to what is or is not archival.
B.
The Records Advisory Board will convene in the event of the following:
(1)
Breach of records management policy or law.
(2)
Replacement of the electronic content document management system
with a different records management application.
(3)
Changes to records management policy and revisions or changes to
the State Archives MU-1 Schedule.
(4)
Disaster affecting the creation, maintenance and disposition of Town
records.
A.
Custody.
(1)
Active records. The originating department has full custody (legal
and physical) over records still in active use. All electronic records,
e-mail, records stored in an active directory user account, software
databases and electronic content document systems have shared custody
between the user and the IT Department.
(2)
Inactive records. The originating department is the legal custodian
of its inactive records until such time as they submit a records transfer
or records destruction form to the RMO for transfer or disposition
or are relocated to the records storage facility for archiving as
per the MU-1 Schedule. Once moved from the originating department,
the RMO will have physical custody of inactive records and will determine
the method and design of storage. The RMO and IT Department will jointly
determine the disposition of inactive electronic records. Inactive
electronic user accounts will be disabled and/or deleted per the Town
of Dover security policy.
(3)
Archival records. Records transferred to or acquired by the archives
shall be under the full custody (legal and physical) of the archives,
as directed by the RMO, rather than the department which created or
held them immediately prior to being transferred to the archives.
Electronic archival records shall be under the full custody of the
IT Department.
(a)
Records shall be transferred to the archives upon the recommendation
of the RMO, with the approval of the head of the department which
had custody of the records and the approval of the Records Advisory
Board.
(b)
Records may be removed (temporarily or permanently) from the
archives at the request of the RMO or the head of the department which
had custody of the records immediately prior to the transfer of those
records to the archives.
(4)
Disposition of records. No records shall be destroyed or otherwise
disposed of by a department of the Town until it has met the time
limit on the State Records Retention and Disposition Schedule or unless
approved by the Records Management Officer. No records shall be destroyed
or otherwise disposed of by the Records Management Officer without
the express written consent of the department head having authority.
Records will not be destroyed if they are required for any pending
audit, litigation or locked due to e-discovery investigation.
B.
Following required consents and prior to actual destruction, the
RMO will allow the Town Historian to review and/or remove any single
document or sampling of nonsecure documents that are of historic value
to the community.
C.
Replevin. The Counsel to the Town may take steps to recover local
government records which have been alienated from proper custody and
may, when necessary, institute actions of replevin. Replevin shall
be the recovery by a person of goods claimed to be his, on his promise
to test the matter in court and give the goods up again if defeated.
