[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Lloyd as indicated
in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Open public meetings — See Ch. 16.
[Adopted 5-8-1996]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Art. I, Public Access, adopted 2-13-1975, was
repealed 4-10-1996.
The following rules and regulations shall apply to the public inspection
and copying of such Town records as are subject to public inspection by law
and shall continue in effect until altered, changed, amended or superseded
by further resolution of the Town Board or by amendments to Article 6 of New
York State Public Officers Law which, if inconsistent with this policy, will
supersede local resolution.
A.
Such records shall be made available for inspection at
the office of the Town officer or employee charged with the custody and keeping
thereof.
B.
No records may be removed by the requester from the office
where the records are located without the permission of the Town officer or
employee charged with the custody and keeping thereof.
C.
The Records Access Officer for the Town of Lloyd shall
be the Town Clerk. The duties of the Town Clerk as records access officer
shall be as set forth in Part 1401 of the rules and regulations promulgated
by the Committee on Public Access to Records.
A.
Such records shall be made available for public inspection
on regular business days between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. if readily
available. If not readily available, a written request specifically describing
records to which access is desired shall be filed with the Town officer or
employee charged with the custody and keeping thereof. The custodian of said
records shall either produce the documents, list a date at which said documents
will be produced, deny the request or give an approximate date of when said
request will either be denied or granted. Any of these responses shall be
given within five days of receiving such a request. If the Town officer or
employee charged with the custody and keeping of the record elects or refuses
access, a written statement of the reason therefor shall be submitted to the
requester within the above-mentioned time frames.
B.
A request for access to records should be sufficiently
detailed to identify the records. Where possible, the requester shall supply
information regarding dates, titles, file designations or other information
which may help identify the records.
C.
All requests for access to records shall be copied by
the department receiving the request, and that copy of the request shall be
transmitted to the Records Access Officer, the Town Clerk.
A.
Copies.
(1)
The Town officer or employee charged with the custody
and keeping of the record shall, upon request, make a copy or copies of any
record subject to such inspection upon payment of a fee of $0.25 per page
(a page not being in excess of nine inches by 14 inches). Otherwise the cost
shall be the actual cost to the Town of reproducing the record.
(2)
If a copy or copies thereof are desired by the requester,
the Town officer or employee charged with the custody and keeping of the record
shall make the appropriate copies and then notify the requester that said
copies are available, within as reasonable period of time of approving the
request as possible, given the number of copies to be made and the type of
records to be reproduced.
Provisions found in New York State Public Officers Law as well as any
other portion of New York State Law concerning what records would and would
not be available due to privacy concerns shall be adhered to by all Town officers
or employees. Identifying details subject to privacy exemptions and contained
in records which are to be made available may be deleted in order to comply
with the appropriate state law. The records access officer will have the provisions
of state law available for reference for those Town employees who are the
custodians of any public records.
A.
Each department shall maintain a current list, reasonably
detailed, by subject matter, of all records in the possession of the department,
whether or not available under the Freedom of Information Law.
B.
Each department shall maintain a record of the final
vote of each member in every proceeding in which the members vote.
C.
The Town shall maintain a record setting forth the name,
public office address, title and salary of every officer or employee of the
Town.
A.
Denial of access to records shalt be in writing stating
the reason therefor and advising the requester of the right to appeal. The
requester has 30 days to appeal the denial.
B.
The time for deciding an appeal by the individual designated
to hear appeals shall commence upon receipt of a written appeal identifying:
C.
The individual designated to hear appeals shall inform
the requester of its decision in writing within 10 business days of receipt
of an appeal. The person designated to hear appeals for the Town of Lloyd
shall be the Town Supervisor.
The Town Clerk of the Town of Lloyd in his or her capacity as the public
records access officer shall post a copy of these rules and regulations on
the Town Clerk's bulletin board in the Town Hall.
[Adopted 1-30-1991 by L.L.
No. 1-1991; amended 6-5-1991 by L.L.
No. 3-1991]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Those official records which have been determined by the Records
Management Officer and Records Advisory Board to have sufficient historical
or other value to warrant their continued preservation by the local government.
Any documents, books, papers, photographs, sound recordings, microforms
or any other materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made
or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction
of official Town of Lloyd business.
An establishment maintained by the Town of Lloyd primarily for the
storage, servicing, security and processing of records which must be preserved
for varying periods of time and need not be retained in office equipment or
space.
The removal by the Town of Lloyd, in accordance with approved records
control schedules, of records no longer necessary for the conduct of business
by such agency through removal methods which may include:
The transfer of records from one Town of Lloyd agency to any other Town
of Lloyd agency.
The planning, controlling, directing, organizing, training, promotion
and other managerial use and records disposition, including records preservation,
records disposal and records centers or other storage facilities.
Making information in records available to any Town of Lloyd agency
for official use or to the public.
There shall be a records management program established under the aegis
of the Town Clerk, who shall be appointed as Records Management Officer (RMO).
The officer will be responsible for administering the noncurrent and archival
public records and storage areas for the Town of Lloyd with local, state and
federal laws and guidelines. The RMO shall have all the necessary powers to
carry out the efficient administration, determination of value, use, preservation,
storage and disposition of the noncurrent and archival public records kept,
filed or received by the offices and departments of the Town of Lloyd, including
but not limited to the following:
A.
Survey and examine public records to recommend their
classification so as to determine the most suitable methods to be used for
the maintaining, storing and servicing of archival material, including but
not limited to the following:
(1)
Obsolete and unnecessary records according to New York
State records retention and disposition schedules thereby subject to disposition.
(2)
Information containing administrative, legal, fiscal,
research, historical or educational value which warrant their permanent retention.
(3)
Records not subject to disposition according to state
law.
B.
Establish guidelines for proper records management in
any department or agency of the Town of Lloyd in accordance with local, state
and federal laws and guidelines.
C.
Report annually to the Town Board on the powers and duties
herein mentioned, including but not limited to the cost/benefit ratio of programs
effectuated by the department.
D.
Operate a records management center for the storage,
processing and servicing of all noncurrent and archival records for all Town
of Lloyd departments and agencies.
E.
Establish a Town of Lloyd archives and perform the following
functions:
(1)
Advise and assist Town of Lloyd departments in reviewing
and selecting material to be transferred to the Town of Lloyd Archives for
preservation.
(2)
Continually survey and examine public records to determine
the most suitable methods to be used for the creating, maintaining, storing
and servicing of archival materials.
(3)
Establish and maintain an adequate repository for the
proper storage, conservation, processing and servicing of archival records.
(4)
Promulgate rules governing public access to and use of
records in the archives, subject to the approval of the Records Advisory Board.
(5)
Develop a confidentiality policy for archival records
designated confidential, provided that such policy does not conflict with
any federal or state statutes.
(6)
Provide information services to other Town of Lloyd offices.
(7)
Collect archival materials which are not official Town
of Lloyd records but which have associational value to the Town of Lloyd or
a close relationship to the existing archival collection. Such collecting
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)
Develop a procedure whereby historically important records
are to be identified at the point of generation.
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 persons, namely the Town of Lloyd's designated counsel, the Supervisor,
a member of the Town Board appointed by the Supervisor, the Town Historian
and an interested citizen appointed by the RMO. The Board shall meet periodically
and have the following duties:
A.
Provide advice to the Records Management Officer on the
development of the records management program.
B.
Review the performance of the program on an ongoing basis
and propose changes and improvements.
C.
Review retention periods proposed by the Records Management
Officer for records not covered by state archives' schedules.
D.
Provide advice on the appraisal of records for archival
value and to be the final sign-off entry as to what is or is not archival.
A.
The Town of Lloyd is the legal custodian of its records
and shall retain custody of records deposited in the records center. Records
transferred to or acquired by the archives shall be under the custody and
control of the archives rather than the department which created or held them
immediately prior to being transferred to the archives.
B.
Records shall be transferred to the archives upon the
recommendation of the RMO, with the approval of the head of the department
which has custody of the records and the approval of the Records Advisory
Board.
C.
Records may be permanently removed 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,
subject to the approval of the Records Advisory Board.
The Town Board's attorney may take steps to recover local government
records which have been alienated from proper custody and may, when necessary,
institute an action of common-law replevin or, under the New York Civil Practice
Law and Rules, an action to recover a chattel.
No records shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by a department
of the Town of Lloyd unless approval has been obtained from 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.
