[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village
of Dryden as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 1-24-1996 (Sec.
10615 of the 1996 Code)]
To provide maximum service to Village departments in compliance
with New York State's Local Government Records Law. This article governs
the life cycle of the public record from its creation, through its
active life to its ultimate disposition. This includes secure storage
and retrieval, destruction, reproduction or permanent preservation
as required or deemed appropriate by the Board of Trustees. This article
includes information in any form (textual, pictorial, cartographic,
audio-visual, or machine-readable) created or received, and owned
by the Village and used to conduct Village business.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Permanent records which are not current and are not required
to be retained in the office in which they originate or are received.
"Permanent records" means records which have permanent or enduring
administrative, legal, fiscal, research or historical value and, in
consequence thereof, should be retained and preserved indefinitely.
Records which, because of their subject matter, may only
be used by a limited number of Village employees or officials.
Records which have temporary value and, in consequence, may
be destroyed after the lapse of a specified time, or after the occurrence
of some act which renders them valueless.
Records which are available to Village employees and officials,
but which are not made available to the public.
Publicly distributed information which is available to anyone.
Any groups of related records which are normally used and
filed as a unit and which permit evaluation as a unit for disposition
purposes.
A list indicating the length of time records must be retained
as well as the appropriate means of disposition for the records.
The period of time that must elapse before the records are
disposed.
Paper documents including both written and printed matter,
books, drawings, maps, plans, photographs; microforms; motion-picture
films, sound and video recordings; computerized data on disk or tape;
or copies thereof made or received by an office of the Village in
connection with the transaction of Village business, and retained
by such office as evidence of the activities of the Village or because
of the information contained therein.
Nonrecords. Include certain categories of materials found in
Village offices which are not considered official Village records:
Library and museum material made or acquired and preserved solely
for reference or exhibition purposes, stocks of publications and of
processed documents, and extra copies of documents preserved only
for convenience of reference; and
Personal papers not relating to the official functions of an
office or created in pursuance of non-Village activities.
A.
Village records, regardless of format, have a life span and eventually
become inactive in their offices of origin. At that time, it is in
the best interests of the Village for reasons of economy, efficiency,
history, or administrative necessity to determine and carry out the
most appropriate disposition of these records. Records will be either
judged to be archival in accordance with state statute and stored
in one of the Village's storage locations, or they will be judged
disposable and will be destroyed in a systematic manner as outlined
in this article.
B.
Village records in custody of their originating and receiving offices
are Village property and may not be disposed of except through policy
and guidelines established herein. Access to Village records still
in originating or receiving offices is governed by statute, regulation,
or by other existing Village policies and guidelines.
C.
Authorization to access. The general public's access to a particular
department's records may only be granted with the approval of the
department head.
D.
Freedom of information requests. Requests shall be directed to the
department that has legal custody of the record, as required by statute.
E.
Archival records. Village records will be available for public inspection,
photocopying, and general research use subject to those constraints
which may apply by virtue of statute, regulation, Village policy or
guideline.
F.
Records retention and disposition schedule. Schedule LGS-1, Retention
and Disposition Schedule for New York Local Government Records, will
be used to determine retention periods for Village records.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. III)]
G.
Purpose. To provide uniform, effective and systematic control on
records keeping and destruction. To ensure that valuable records are
preserved and that records of a temporary nature are disposed of when
no longer needed.
A.
Destruction of Village records.
(1)
Authority for destruction. No records shall be destroyed or otherwise
disposed of by a department of the Village unless approval has been
obtained from the Department Head. If necessary or helpful, the Records
Management Officer will be consulted.
(2)
To implement destruction or archival storage:
(a)
Each department will manage the retention and disposition of
records under its control. Questions will be directed to the Records
Management Officer.
(3)
Disposable records which are considered confidential or restricted
should be shredded or burned; disposable records which are considered
official or public should be recycled if possible or disposed of with
regular trash.
B.
Authorization for reformatting records:
(1)
Purpose of reformatting records. Village records in paper format
may be microfilmed, scanned for storage in optical or other computerized
media, or rekeyed and converted to computerized storage to miniaturize
for the purposes of reducing storage costs and/or to improve access
to and manipulability of the data.
(2)
Quality standards for reformatting Village records:
(a)
All significant detail on originals must be included on the
new medium;
(b)
Paper copies reproduced from microfilm or computerized media
must be legible;
(c)
Reformatted reproductions must have the same acceptability and
legal status as the original record;
(d)
The reformatted reproduction must meet archival standards, as
specified in American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or International
Standards organization (ISO) standards for archival quality micrographics
systems, for example.
(3)
The Records Management Officer will oversee all reformatting of Village
records.
(4)
Master negatives of microfilmed records which are identified as archival
will be stored in the vault. Original archival records should be retained
in storage.
(5)
Village records which are determined to be disposable may be stored
on any medium that ensures the maintenance of the information until
its designated disposal point.
C.
Permanent preservation of Village records:
[Adopted 10-27-2022]
A.
The people's right to know the process of government decisionmaking
and the documents and statistics leading to determinations is basic
to our society. Access to such information should not be thwarted
by shrouding it with the cloak of secrecy of confidentiality.
B.
This article provides information concerning the procedures by which
records may be obtained.
C.
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.
E.
Notwithstanding any term or provision of this article to the contrary,
any records of the Village Police Department shall be excluded from
the coverage of this article, and such records of the Village Police
Department shall be maintained, preserved, and/or disposed of by the
Village Police Department in accordance with applicable state and
federal law and regulations.
A.
The Board of Trustees is responsible for insuring compliance with
the regulations herein, and designates the following person(s) as
records access officer(s):
|
Clerk/Treasurer
Village of Dryden
16 South Street
Dryden, NY 13053
|
B.
The records access officer is responsible for insuring appropriate
agency response to public requests for access to records. The designation
of a records access officer 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.
C.
The records access officer shall insure that agency personnel:
(1)
Maintain an up-to-date subject matter list.
(2)
Assist persons seeking records to identify the records sought, if
necessary, and when appropriate, indicate the manner in which the
records are filed, retrieved or generated to assist persons in reasonably
describing records.
(3)
Contact persons seeking records when a request is voluminous or when
locating the records involves substantial effort, so that personnel
may ascertain the nature of records of primary interest and attempt
to reasonably reduce the volume of records requested.
(6)
Upon request, certify that a record is a true copy; and
Records shall be available for public inspection and copying
at:
|
Village of Dryden
16 South Street
Dryden, NY 13053
|
A.
A written request is required.
B.
If records are maintained on the internet, the requester shall be
informed that the records are accessible via the internet and in printed
form either on paper or other information storage medium.
C.
A response shall be given within five business days of receipt of
a request by:
(1)
Informing a person requesting records that the request or portion
of the request does not reasonably describe the records sought, including
direction, to the extent possible, that would enable that person to
request records reasonably described;
(2)
Granting or denying access to records in whole or in part;
(3)
Acknowledging the receipt of a request in writing, including an approximate
date when the request will be granted or denied in whole or in part,
which shall be reasonable under the circumstances of the request and
shall not be more than 20 business days after the date of the acknowledgment,
or if it is known that circumstances prevent disclosure within 20
business days from the date of such acknowledgment, providing a statement
in writing indicating the reason for inability to grant the request
within that time and a date certain, within a reasonable period under
the circumstances of the request, when the request will be granted
in whole or in part; or
(4)
If the receipt of request was acknowledged in writing and included
an approximate date when the request would be granted in whole or
in part within 20 business days of such acknowledgment, but circumstances
prevent disclosure within that time, providing a statement in writing
within 20 business days of such acknowledgment specifying the reason
for the inability to do so and a date certain, within a reasonable
period under the circumstances of the request, when the request will
be granted in whole or in part.
D.
In determining a reasonable time for granting or denying a request
under the circumstances of a request, personnel shall consider the
volume of a request, the ease or difficulty in locating, retrieving
or generating records, the complexity of the request, the need to
review records to determine the extent to which they must be disclosed,
the number of requests received by the agency, and similar factors
that bear on the ability to grant access to records promptly and within
a reasonable time.
E.
A failure to comply with the time limitations described herein shall
constitute a denial of a request that may be appealed. Such failure
shall include situations in which an officer or employee:
(1)
Fails to grant access to the records sought, deny access in writing
or acknowledge the receipt of a request within five business days
of the receipt of a request;
(2)
Acknowledges the receipt of a request within five business days but
fails to furnish an approximate date when the request will be granted
or denied in whole or in part;
(3)
Furnishes an acknowledgment of the receipt of a request within five
business days with an approximate date for granting or denying access
in whole or in part that is unreasonable under the circumstances of
the request;
(4)
Fails to respond to a request within a reasonable time after the
approximate date given or within 20 business days after the date of
the acknowledgment of the receipt of a request;
(5)
Determines to grant a request in whole or in part within 20 business
days of the acknowledgment of the receipt of a request, but fails
to do so, unless the agency provides the reason for its inability
to do so in writing and a date certain within which the request will
be granted in whole or in part;
(6)
Does not grant a request in whole or in part within 20 business days
of the acknowledgment of the receipt of a request and fails to provide
the reason in writing explaining the inability to do so and a date
certain by which the request will be granted in whole or in part;
or
(7)
Responds to a request, stating that more than 20 business days is
needed to grant or deny the request in whole or in part and provides
a date certain within which that will be accomplished, but such date
is unreasonable under the circumstances of the request.
A.
The records access officer shall maintain a reasonably detailed current
list by subject matter of all records in its 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 annually. The most recent
update shall appear on the first page of the subject matter list.
A.
Denial of access to records shall be in writing stating the reason
therefor and advising the requester of the right to appeal to the
individual or body established to determine appeals, who shall be
identified by name, title, business address and business phone number.
B.
If requested records are not provided promptly, as required in § 44-9 of these regulations, such failure shall also be deemed a denial of access.
C.
The following person or persons or body shall determine appeals regarding
denial of access to records under the Freedom of Information Law:
|
(name) Rotha Marsh
(job title) Clerk Treasurer
16 South Street
Dryden, NY 13053
|
D.
Any person denied access to records may appeal within 30 days of
a denial.
E.
The time for deciding an appeal by the individual or body designated
to determine appeals shall commence upon receipt of a written appeal
identifying:
F.
A failure to determine an appeal within 10 business days of its receipt
by granting access to the records sought or fully explaining the reasons
for further denial in writing shall constitute a denial of the appeal.
G.
The person or body designated to determine appeals shall transmit
to the Committee on Open Government copies of all appeals upon receipt
of appeals. Such copies shall be addressed to:
|
Committee on Open Government
Department of State
One Commerce Plaza
99 Washington Avenue, Suite 650
Albany, NY 12231
|
H.
The person or body designated to determine appeals shall inform the appellant and the Committee on Open Government of its determination in writing within 10 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 G of this section.
B.
Copies may be provided without charging a fee.
D.
The fee an agency may charge for a copy of any other record is based
on the actual cost of reproduction and may include only the following:
(1)
An amount equal to the hourly salary attributed to the lowest paid
employee who has the necessary skill required to prepare a copy of
the requested record, but only when more than two hours of the employee's
time is necessary to do so; and
(2)
The actual cost of the storage devices or media provided to the person
making the request in complying with such request; or
(3)
The actual cost to the agency of engaging an outside professional
service to prepare a copy of a record, but only when an agency's information
technology equipment is inadequate to prepare a copy, and if such
service is used to prepare the copy.
E.
When an agency has the ability to retrieve or extract a record or data maintained in a computer storage system with reasonable effort, or when doing so requires less employee time than engaging in manual retrieval or redactions from nonelectronic records, the agency shall be required to retrieve or extract such record or data electronically. In such case, the agency may charge a fee in accordance with Subsection D(1) and (2) above.
F.
An agency shall inform a person requesting a record of the estimated
cost of preparing a copy of the record if more than two hours of an
agency employee's time is needed, or if it is necessary to retain
an outside professional service to prepare a copy of the record.
G.
An agency may require that the fee for copying or reproducing a record
be paid in advance of the preparation of such copy.
H.
An agency may waive a fee in whole or in part when making copies
of records available.
A.
A notice containing the title or name and business address of the
records access officers and appeals person or body and the location
where records can be seen, or copies, shall be posted in a conspicuous
location wherever records are kept and/or published in a local newspaper
of general circulation.
B.
The Village of Dryden shall post information related to this article
on its website. Such information shall include, at a minimum, contact
information for the persons from whom records of the agency may be
obtained, the times and places such records are available for inspection
and copying, and information on how to request records in person or
by mail. This posting shall be linked to the website of the Committee
on Open Government.
If any provision of this article or the application thereof
to any person or circumstances is adjudged invalid by a court of competent
jurisdiction, such judgment shall not affect or impair the validity
of the other provisions of this article or the application thereof
to other persons and circumstances.
