[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of Victor as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
[Adopted 11-25-1991 by L.L. No. 3-1991]
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.
A.
There shall be a records management program established
under the aegis of the Town Clerk and headed by the 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:
Those official records which have been determined by the
Officer and Advisory Board 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 Victor, 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 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 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 and
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 Records Retention and Disposition
Schedule are subject to disposition.
(2)
Archival retention. Records containing information
with administrative, legal, fiscal, research, historical or educational
value which warrants their permanent retention are subject to archival
retention.
(3)
Active retention. Records not yet subject to disposition
according to state law are subject to active retention.
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 and agencies.
E.
Additional requirements of the Records Management
Officer include but are not limited to:
(1)
Development of a comprehensive records management
program.
(2)
Conduct of an initial survey and analysis of all records,
to be followed up annually with a report of records stored.
(3)
Encouragement and coordination of the continuous legal
destruction of obsolete records through the adoption and use of the
State Archive Records Retention and Disposition Schedules.
(4)
Development of suitable retention periods for records
not covered by the New York 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)
Assistance to each department for the establishment
of a records management system to support the overall Town records
management program and encouragement of the continued efficient management
of records within respective departments.
(6)
Setting up and overseeing a center for the storage
of inactive records.
(7)
Maintenance of 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)
Coordination of and carrying out or participating
in the planning for development of advanced records management systems
and equipment.
(9)
Preparation of special and annual reports for the
Town Board on the records management program's 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 (5) members, suggested but
not limited to the following areas: Town Historian, a department head,
a Council person, a library representative, an attorney and a member
of the community. Appointments are 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 New York State Records Retention and Disposition Schedule or unless
approved of 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"
shall mean 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 submitted to the Town
Clerk/Records Management Officer during regular business hours of
the Town of Victor offices.
[Amended 1-5-2004]
B.
Within five (5) business days of the receipt of the
written request, one (1) of the following will occur:
C.
Any person denied access to a record may appeal, within
thirty (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 ten (10) business days
of the receipt of an appeal, fully explain, in writing, to the person
requesting the record the reason for further denial, or the Town Board
shall provide access to the record 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.
A set fee will be charged per photocopy of a
record. Such charges will be established by resolution of the Town
Board.
[Adopted 6-25-2012 by Res. No. 242-2012]
There are circumstances where the normal and routine destruction
of records must be suspended pursuant to federal and state requirements
and Town of Victor record retention and disposition schedules. Present
and future records that are involved in litigation, or reasonably
anticipated in foreseeable legal action, must be preserved until the
legal hold is released by the Town Supervisor. The purpose of this
document is to set forth the authority and process for initiating,
implementing, monitoring and releasing legal holds.
This policy and these procedures apply to all Town of Victor
personnel and cover all records, regardless of form, made or received
in the transaction of Town business.
As used herein, these terms shall have the following designated
meanings:
All Town of Victor personnel who are in possession or control
of records which are the subject of a legal hold.
Includes all forms of electronic communications, including,
but not limited to, e-mail, word processing documents, spreadsheets,
databases, instant messages, calendars, voice messages, videotapes,
audio recordings, photographs, SharePoint files, wiki materials, telephone
or meeting logs, contact manager information, Internet usage files,
and information stored in PDAs, Blackberry devices or removable media
(e.g., CDs, DVDs, thumb drives, etc.). This includes any Town of Victor
information that is stored in any personal electronic device used
or maintained by any affected Town personnel.
Includes all records, whether in electronic or paper form,
created, received or maintained in the transaction of Town of Victor
business, whether conducted at home or work. Such evidence may include,
but is not limited to, paper records and electronic records stored
on servers, desktop or laptop hard drives, tapes, flash drives, memory
sticks, DVDs or CD-ROMs.
An order to cease destruction and preserve all records, regardless
of form, related to the nature or subject of the legal hold.
Includes all employees, whether permanent, temporary, full-time
or part-time. The authority to place a legal hold is vested in the
Town Supervisor, as advised by the Town Attorney.
A.
Any Town of Victor personnel who become aware of any litigation,
threat of litigation, other legal action, or an investigation by any
administrative, civil or criminal authority, through the receipt of
notification or other information identifying the possibility of legal
action or upon service of a summons and complaint, must immediately
notify the Town Supervisor, who will identify Town of Victor personnel
subject to the hold.
B.
The Town Supervisor will notify affected Town personnel in writing
that a legal hold has been initiated. The notice will inform affected
Town personnel of their obligation to identify and preserve all evidence
that may be relevant to the legal hold.
C.
Upon notice of a legal hold, affected Town personnel must do the
following:
(1)
Immediately suspend deletion, purging, overwriting or any other destruction
of electronic information under their control that is relevant to
this dispute. This includes electronic information wherever it is
stored, including, but not limited to, on hard drives of Town of Victor
workstation desktops or laptops, on flash drives, CD-ROMs, DVDs, memory
sticks, tapes, Zip disks, diskettes, PDAs, etc. This electronic information
must be preserved so that it can be retrieved at a later time and
must be preserved in its original electronic form so that all information
contained within it, whether visible or not, is also available for
inspection; i.e., it is not sufficient to make a hard copy of electronic
communication.
(2)
Preserve any new electronic information that is generated after receipt
of the legal hold notice that is relevant to the subject of the notice.
This should be done by creating separate mailboxes and files and segregating
all future electronically stored information in these separate mailboxes
and files.
(3)
Preserve hard copies of documents under their control. Steps should be taken to identify all relevant paper files and to ensure the retention of such files. affected Town personnel may make hard copies of electronically stored information; however, as outlined in Subsection C(1) above, the information must be preserved in its original electronic form.
(4)
If affected Town personnel use their home computers or other personal
electronic devices for Town-related business (including e-mail on
their Town e-mail accounts or on personal accounts such as AOL Mail,
Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, etc.), they must preserve any Town-related data
on those computers.
D.
Town personnel subject to a legal hold must acknowledge receipt,
understanding and compliance with a legal hold, without undue delay,
by forwarding an e-mail to the Town Supervisor acknowledging such
receipt.
E.
If affected Town personnel separate from employment during the course
of a legal hold, department heads must take possession of any and
all evidence under the control of the separated personnel and notify
the Town Supervisor that such action has been taken.
F.
Once notice of a legal hold has been issued, the Town Supervisor
will continue to monitor compliance with this policy and any notice.
The Town Supervisor, in consultation with the Town Attorney, will
take steps to ensure that the information that is legally protected
will not be disclosed to outside parties.
Violations of this policy and these procedures are subject to
disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
The Town Supervisor, in consultation with the Town Attorney,
will determine and communicate, in writing, to affected Town personnel
when a legal hold may be lifted and evidence need no longer be preserved.
