All documents, papers, letters, books, maps, photographs, sound
or video recordings, microfilm, magnetic tape, electronic media, or
other information-recording media, regardless of physical form or
characteristic and regardless of whether public access to it is open
or restricted under the laws of the state, created or received by
the city or any of its officers or employees pursuant to law or in
the transaction of public business, are hereby declared to be the
records of the city, and shall be created, maintained, and disposed
of in accordance with the provisions of this article or procedures
authorized by it and in no other manner.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15A; 2004
Code, sec. 1.801)
Department head.
The officer who by ordinance, order or administrative policy
is in charge of an office of the city that creates or receives records.
Essential record.
Any record of the city necessary to the resumption or continuation
of the city in an emergency or disaster, to the re-creation of the
legal and financial status of the city, or to the protection and fulfillment
of obligations to the people of the state.
Permanent record.
Any record of the city for which the retention period on
a records control schedule is given as permanent.
Records management.
The application of management techniques to the creation,
use, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of records
for the purposes of reducing the costs and improving the efficiency
of recordkeeping. The term includes the development of records control
schedules, the management of filing and information retrieval systems,
the protection of essential and permanent records, the economical
and space-effective storage of inactive records, control over the
creation and distribution of forms, reports, and correspondence, and
the management of micrographics and electronic and other records storage
systems.
Records retention schedule.
A listing issued by the state library that specifies the
time period each record obtained by the city should be retained.
Retention period.
The minimum time that must pass after the creation, recording,
or receipt of a record, or the fulfillment of certain actions associated
with a record, before it is eligible for destruction.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15B; 2004
Code, sec. 1.802)
All municipal or city records as defined in section
1.06.001 of this article are hereby declared to be the property of the city. No municipal or city official or employee has, by virtue of his or her position, any personal or property right to such records even though he or she may have developed or compiled them. The unauthorized destruction, removal from files, or use of such records is prohibited.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15C; 2004
Code, sec. 1.803)
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the city to provide
for efficient, economical, and effective controls over the creation,
distribution, organization, maintenance, use and disposition of all
municipal and city records through a comprehensive system of integrated
procedures for the management of records from their creation to their
ultimate disposition, consistent with the requirements of the Texas
Local Government Records Act and accepted records management practice.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15D; 2004
Code, sec. 1.804)
The city manager or his/her designee, and the successive holders
of said office, shall serve as records management officer for the
city. As provided by state law, each successive holder of the office
shall file his or her name with the director and librarian of the
state library within thirty (30) days of the initial designation or
of taking up the office, as applicable.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15E; Ordinance 707 adopted 6/10/03; 2004 Code, sec. 1.805)
(a) The
records management officer shall develop a records management plan
for the city, for submission to the city council. The plan must contain
policies and procedures designed to reduce the costs and improve the
efficiency of recordkeeping, to adequately protect the essential records
of the city, and to properly preserve those records of the city that
are of historical value. The plan must be designed to enable the records
management officer to carry out his or her duties prescribed by state
law and this article effectively.
(b) Once
approved by the city council, the records management plan shall be
binding on all offices, departments, divisions, programs, commissions,
bureaus, boards, committees, or similar entities of the city, and
records shall be created, maintained, stored, microfilmed, etc., according
to it.
(c) State
law relating to the duties, other responsibilities, or recordkeeping
requirements of a department head do not exempt the department head
or the records in the department head’s care from the application
of this article and the records management plan adopted under it and
may not be used by the department head as a basis for refusal to participate
in the records management program of the city.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15F; 2004
Code, sec. 1.806)
In addition to other duties assigned in this article, the records
management officer shall:
(1) Administer
the records management program and provide assistance to department
heads in its implementation;
(2) Plan,
formulate, and prescribe records disposition policies, systems, standards
and procedures;
(3) In
cooperation with department heads, identify essential records and
establish a disaster plan for each municipal or city office and department
to ensure maximum availability of the records in order to reestablish
operations quickly and with minimum disruption and expense;
(4) Develop
procedures to ensure the permanent preservation of the historically
valuable records of the city;
(5) Establish
standards for filing and storage equipment and for recordkeeping supplies;
(6) Study
the feasibility of and, if appropriate, establish a uniform filing
system and a forms design and control system for the city;
(7) Provide
records management advice and assistance to all city departments by
preparation of a manual or manuals of procedure and policy and by
on-site consultation;
(8) Monitor
records retention schedules and administrative rules issued by the
state library and archives commission to determine if the records
management program and the city’s control schedules are in compliance
with state regulations;
(9) Disseminate
to the city council and department heads information concerning state
laws and administrative rules relating to local government records;
(10) Instruct records liaison officers and other personnel in policies
and procedures of the records management plan and their duties in
the records management program;
(11) Direct records liaison officers or other personnel in the conduct
of records inventories in preparation for the development of records
control schedules as required by state law and this article;
(12) Ensure that the maintenance, preservation, microfilming, destruction
or other disposition of municipal and city records is carried out
in accordance with the policies and procedures of the records management
program and the requirements of state law;
(13) Maintain records on the volume of records destroyed under approved
records control schedules, the volume of records microfilmed or stored
electronically, and the estimated cost and space savings as the result
of such disposal or disposition;
(14) Report annually to the city council on the implementation of the records management plan in each department of the city, including summaries of the statistical and fiscal data compiled under subsection
(13); and
(15) Bring to the attention of the city council noncompliance by department
heads or other city personnel with the policies and procedures of
the records management program or the Local Government Records Act.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15G; 2004
Code, sec. 1.807)
In addition to other duties assigned in this article, department
heads shall:
(1) Cooperate
with the records management officer in carrying out the policies and
procedures established in the city for the efficient and economical
management of the records and in carrying out the requirements of
this article;
(2) Adequately
document the transaction of government business and the services,
programs and duties for which the department head and his or her staff
are responsible; and
(3) Keep
the records in his or her care and carry out their preservation, microfilming,
destruction or other disposition only in accordance with the policies
and procedures of the records management program of the city, and
the requirements of this article.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15H; 2004
Code, sec. 1.808)
Each department head shall designate a member of his or her
staff to serve as records liaison officer for the implementation of
the records management program in the department. If the records management
officer determines that in the best interest of the records management
program more than one records liaison officer would be designated
for a department, the department head shall designate the number of
records liaison officers specified by the records management officer.
Persons designated as records liaison officers shall be thoroughly
familiar with all the records created and maintained by the department
and shall have full access to all records of the city maintained by
the department. In the event of the resignation, retirement, dismissal,
or removal by action of the department head of a person designated
as a records liaison officer, the department head shall promptly designate
another person to fill the vacancy. A department head may serve as
records liaison officer for his or her department.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15I; 2004
Code, sec. 1.809)
In addition to other duties assigned in this article, records
liaison officers shall:
(1) Conduct
or supervise the conduct of inventories of the records of the department
in preparation for the development of records control schedules;
(2) In
cooperation with the records management officer, coordinate and implement
the policies and procedures of the records management program in their
departments; and
(3) Disseminate
information to department staff concerning the records management
program.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15J; 2004
Code, sec. 1.810)
(a) The
city adopts records retention schedules that comply with the minimum
requirements of records retention schedules issued by the state library
and archives commission.
(b) The
records management officer shall complete a declaration of compliance
with the records scheduling requirements of the Local Government Records
Act and file it with the state.
(c) Before
its adoption, a records control schedule or amended schedule for a
department must be approved by the department head, the city attorney
and the city finance director.
(d) Before
its adoption, a records control schedule must be submitted to and
accepted for filing by the director and librarian as provided by state
law. If a schedule is not accepted for filing, the schedule shall
be amended to make it acceptable for filing. The records management
officer shall submit the records control schedules to the director
and librarian.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15K; 2004
Code, sec. 1.811)
(a) A records control schedule for a department that has been approved and adopted under section
1.06.006 shall be implemented by department head and records liaison officers according to the policies and procedures of the records management plan.
(b) A
record whose retention period has expired on a records control schedule
shall be destroyed unless an open records request is pending on the
record, the subject matter of the record is pertinent to a pending
lawsuit, or the department head requests in writing to the records
management officer that the record be retained for an additional period.
(c) Prior
to the destruction of a record under an approved records control schedule,
authorization for the destruction must be obtained by the records
management officer from the city attorney and the city finance director.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15L; 2004
Code, sec. 1.812)
A record that has not yet been listed on an approved records
control schedule may be destroyed if its destruction has been approved
in the same manner as a record destroyed under an approved schedule
and the records management officer has submitted to and received back
from the director and librarian an approved destruction authorization
request.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15M; 2004
Code, sec. 1.813)
A records center, developed pursuant to the plan required by section
1.06.006, shall be under the direct control and supervision of the records management officer. Policies and procedures regulating the operations and use of the records center shall be contained in the records management plan developed under section
1.06.006.
(1987 Code, ch. 1, sec. 15N; 2004
Code, sec. 1.814)