[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Commissioners of the Town
of Westernport as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
[Adopted 6-5-2018 by Ord.
No. 5-7-2018]
The Town Clerk shall be responsible for maintaining all public
records of the Town. All records shall be maintained in accordance
with Maryland and federal law.
Town employees may only destroy or otherwise dispose of public
records and nonofficial materials if such destruction or disposition
is consistent with state and federal laws, including but not limited
to Section 10-601, et seq. of the State Government Article of the
Annotated Code of Maryland and COMAR. The Town Clerk shall be responsible
for creating any necessary schedules and seeking approval from the
Maryland State Archivist for the destruction and disposition of public
records and nonofficial materials.
The Town Clerk shall be responsible for the supervision of reproduction
processes for the electronic, photographic, microfiche, or other method
of reproducing public records for permanent or alternate storage of
public records. The reproduction of documents in which the original
documents shall be destroyed or disposed of shall be consistent with
the conditions imposed by the Maryland State Archivist.
A copy of all certificates of destruction that are created and
sent to the Maryland State Archivist shall be kept in a permanent
file of certificates. An additional copy of the certificates may be
kept in subject matter files where the original records were kept,
if appropriate.
Upon notice of potential or actual litigation in which documents
or other materials in the possession of the Town could be subject
to discovery, evidence, investigation, or otherwise necessary or useful
to any party to said litigation, the Town Clerk shall take all necessary
steps to preserve such documents or materials. For purposes of this
section, the obligation of preservation extends beyond the definition
of public documents to include all documents and materials in the
possession of the Town, including but not limited to electronic communications.
The release, disposal, or destruction of such documents or materials
shall be made only in accordance with state and federal law. Subject
to state or federal law, for matters in which the Town is not a party,
notice under this section shall be deemed sufficient if a person gives
the Town Clerk a written notice that identifies the specific documents,
or specifies a category or class of documents, sufficient to identify
the documents which must be preserved under this section.
