This Village Board hereby promulgates this set of rules in accordance with Chapter 578 of the Laws of 1974.
The Village Clerk is hereby designated as the records access officer of the Village of Irvington.
Persons seeking public records shall make application to the records access officer upon the application form supplied by such officer, in the event such records are not readily available.
The records access officer is hereby directed to make available to persons requesting records, those public records which, by law, are required to be made available for public inspection and copying. In the event the request for public records interferes with the operation of the office of the Village Clerk and makes it difficult for members of the public to receive the regular services of the Village Clerk, the records access officer is hereby authorized to establish hours during each day when he shall process requests for records, including the times when such requests shall be made in order to enable him to find the records for review and copying. The times so established by the records access officer shall be conspicuously posted in the office of the Village Clerk.
[Amended 8-18-2003 by L.L. No. 20-2003]
The records access officer is authorized to copy any records which are within the purview of the law and to charge a fee for such services. The fee for copying such records shall be as set from time to time by the Board of Trustees. No records shall be reproduced until payment is first received.
No records shall be removed from the lawful custody of any public office charged with the duty of maintaining such records.
In the event that any requests cannot be met because such records are being used for current working purposes, the applicant shall be advised of such fact and every effort will be made to arrange a specific time when such records will be available.
In the event that a question arises as to the nature of the records in that public viewing of such records may result in an unwarranted invasion of a citizen's personal privacy or may result in a disclosure of material that must be confidential to promote effective law enforcement or for any other reason which, in the opinion of the records access officer, are valid to promote the public interest while consistent with the new law, the records access officer shall confer with the Village Attorney before determining if such records shall be made available for inspection.
In the event that any person is denied access to any public records in violation of the law, such person shall advise the Village Board of such denial, in writing, and set forth the records requested, the reason for denial and the fact that the fees for such records were, in fact, tendered.
These regulations shall be temporary and considered as such until the state guidelines are promulgated and until more comprehensive regulations can be prepared.
The purpose of these regulations shall be to maintain the spirit of the law and to recognize that the concept of open records is consistent with the purpose of this Board's resolution.
[Adopted 7-21-2003 by L.L. No. 16-2003]
There shall be a records management program established under the auspices of the Records Management Officer. The Officer will be responsible for administering the noncurrent and archival public records and storage areas for the Village in accordance with local, state and federal laws and guidelines.
The Records Management Officer 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 officers and departments of the Village of Irvington. The Records Management Officer shall:
A. Continually 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 as follows:
(1) Identify obsolete and unnecessary records according to New York State Archives Records Retention and Disposition Schedules (MU-1) thereby subject to disposition.
(2) Identify information containing administrative, legal, fiscal, research, historical or educational value which warrant their permanent retention.
(3) Retain records not subject to disposition according to state law.
B. Establish guidelines for proper records management in any department or agency of Village government in accordance with local, state, and federal laws and guidelines.
C. Oversee all requests for records storage equipment, microfilm equipment, etc., and coordinate and participate in planning for the expansion of micrographics and automated data processing systems.
D. Establish inactive records storage areas for the storage, processing and servicing of all noncurrent and archival records for all Village departments and agencies.
E. Perform the following functions:
(1) Advise and assist Village departments in reviewing and selecting records to be transferred to the inactive records storage area for storage and/or 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.
(5) Develop a confidentiality policy for archival records designated confidential, providing such policy does not conflict with any federal or state statutes.
(6) Provide information services to other Village offices.
(7) Develop a procedure whereby historically important records are to be identified at the point of generation.
(8) Collect archival materials which are not official Village records but which have associated value to the Village 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 Village archives.