[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of Rockland as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
[Adopted 10-18-1984 (Ch. 5 of the 1984 Code)]
This article shall be known and may be cited
as the "Public Records Law of the Town of Rockland, New York."
A.
The people's right to know the process of government
decisionmaking and the documents and statistics leading to determinations
can be thwarted by shrouding it with the cloak of secrecy or confidentiality.
B.
This article provides information concerning the procedures
by which records may be obtained from an agency defined by Subdivision
3 of § 86 of the Public Officers Law. No agency regulations
shall be more restrictive than this article.
C.
Agency personnel shall furnish to the public the information
and records required by the Freedom of Information Law, as well as
records otherwise available by law.
D.
Any conflicts among laws governing public access to
records shall be construed in favor of the widest possible availability
of public records.
A.
The Town Board of the Town of Rockland, hereinafter
referred to as the "Town Board," shall be responsible for ensuring
compliance with the regulations herein, and designates the Town Clerk
as records access officer who shall have the duty of coordinating
the Town response to public requests for access to records. The designation
of the Town Clerk shall not be construed to prohibit officials who
have in the past been authorized to make records or information available
to the public from continuing to do so.
The Town Board hereby designates the office
of the Town Clerk, located in the Town Hall, Livingston Manor, New
York, as the location where public records shall be available for
public inspection and copying.
The Town Clerk shall accept requests for public
access to records and produce records during all hours during which
the Clerk's office is regularly open for business.
A.
The Town Clerk may require that a request be made
in writing or may make records available upon oral request.
B.
The Town Clerk shall respond to any request reasonably
describing the record or records sought within five business days
of receipt of the request.
C.
A request shall reasonably describe the record or
records sought. Whenever possible a person requesting records should
supply information regarding dates, file designations, or other information
that may help to describe the records sought.
D.
If the Town Clerk does not provide or deny access
to the records sought within five business days of receipt of a request,
the Town Clerk shall furnish a written acknowledgment of receipt of
the request and a statement of the approximate date when the request
will be granted or denied. If access to records is neither granted
nor denied within 10 business days after the date of acknowledgment
of receipt of a request, the request may be construed as a denial
of access that may be appealed.
A.
The Town Clerk shall maintain a reasonably detailed
current list by subject matter of all records in his or her possession,
whether or not records are available pursuant to Subdivision 2 of
§ 87 of the Public Officers Law.
B.
The subject matter list shall be sufficiently detailed
to permit identification of the category of the record sought.
C.
The subject matter list shall be updated not less
than twice per year. The most recent update shall appear on the first
page of the subject matter list.
A.
The Town Board shall hear appeals or shall designate
a person or body to hear appeals regarding denial of access to records
under the Freedom of Information Law.
B.
Denial of access shall be in writing stating the reason
therefor and advising the person denied access of his or her right
to appeal to the person or body established to hear appeals, and that
person or body shall be identified by name, title, business address
and business telephone number. The records access officer shall not
be the appeals officer.
C.
If the Town Board fails to respond to a request within five business days of receipt of a request as required in § 32-6 of this article, such failure shall be deemed a denial of access by the agency.
D.
Any person denied access to records may appeal within
30 days of a denial.
F.
The Town Board shall transmit to the Committee on
Open Government copies of all appeals upon receipt of an appeal. Such
copies shall be addressed to:
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Committee on Open Government
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Department of State
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162 Washington Avenue
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Albany, New York 12231
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G.
The Town Board or the person or body designated to hear appeals shall inform the appellant and the Committee on Open Government of its determination, in writing, within seven business days of receipt of an appeal. The determination shall be transmitted to the Committee on Open Government in the same manner as set forth in Subsection F of this section.
Except when a different fee is otherwise prescribed
by law:
B.
The Town Clerk may provide copies of records without
charging a fee; or
C.
The Town Clerk may charge a fee for copies of records,
provided that:
(1)
The fee for copying records shall not exceed $0.25
per page for photocopies not exceeding nine inches by 14 inches. This
section shall not be construed to mandate the raising of fees where
agencies in the past have charged less than $0.25 for such copies.
[Adopted 1-6-1994 by L.L. No. 1-1994 (Ch. 6 of the 1984
Code)]
Records are essential to the administration
of local government. They contain the information that keeps government
programs functioning. It is the intent of this article that a records
management program be 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 of Rockland.
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 article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
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, regardless of
physical form or characteristics, made or received pursuant to law
or in conjunction with the 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 for varying periods of time.
The removal by the Town of Rockland, 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 or
donation, or the transfer of records to a central storage facility
for records with scheduled retention periods or permanent storage
of records determined to have historical or other sufficient value
warranting continued preservation.
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 any agency for
official use or to the public.
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 public
records kept, filed or received by the officers and departments of
the Town.
A.
The Records Management Office 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 shall establish guidelines
for proper records management in any department of the Town government
in accordance with local, state and federal laws and guidelines.
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 planned 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.
E.
Additional requirements of the Records Management
Officer include but are not limited to:
(1)
The development of a comprehensive records management
program.
(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 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)
Maintain archival materials which are not official
Town records but which have historical value to the community or 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.
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 member, a Library representative, and attorney and a member
of the community. Appointments to be made by the Supervisor. The Board
shall meet periodically and have the following duties:
A.
To provide advice to the Records Management Officer
on the development of the records management program.
B.
To review the performance of the program on an ongoing
basis and propose changes and improvements.
C.
To review any changes in retention periods proposed
by the Records Management Officer for records not covered by the state
archive schedules.
D.
To 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.
A.
Active records. The originating department has full
custody (legal and physical) over records still in active use.
B.
Inactive records. The originating department is the
legal custodian of its records and shall retain the power to retrieve
and use records deposited in inactive storage in the Records Center.
The RMO will have physical custody of inactive records and will determine
the method and design of storage.
C.
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.
(1)
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.
(2)
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, subject to the approval of the Records
Advisory Board.
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. 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 documents that are of historic value to the community.
The Legal Department may take steps to recover
local government records which have been alienated from proper custody,
and may, when necessary, institute actions of replevin. (Replevin:
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.)
To comply with Article 6 of the Public Officers
Law, the following format will be followed:
A.
All requests for information shall be in writing,
reasonably describing the record requested and made during regular
business hours of the Town of Rockland offices.
B.
Within five business days of the receipt of the written
request one of the following will occur:
C.
Any person denied access to a record may appeal, within
30 days, in writing, such denial to the Town Board.
D.
The Town Board is hereby designated as the appeal
agency for determination of denials and will proceed as follows:
(1)
The Town Board shall, within 10 business days of the
receipt of an appeal, fully explain in writing to the person requesting
the records the reason for further denial or the Town Board shall
provide access to the records sought.
(2)
The Town Board shall forward to the Committee on Open
Government a copy of such appeal when received by the agency and shall
also forward to said Committee the ensuing determination thereon.
E.
A set fee will be charged per photocopy of a record.
Such charges will be established by resolution of the Town Board.
