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 of Alamo Heights 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.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 1, adopted 4/9/1990)
As used in this article, the following words and terms shall
have the meanings respectively ascribed:
(1) Department
head
means that officer who by ordinance, order, or administrative
policy is in charge of an office of the city that creates or receives
records.
(2) Essential
record
means any record of the city necessary to the
resumption or continuation of operations of the city, or to the protection
and fulfillment of obligations to the people of the state.
(3) Permanent
record
means any record of the city for which the retention
period on a records control schedule is given as permanent.
(4) Records
control schedule
means a document prepared by or under
the authority of the records management officer listing the records
maintained by the city, their retention periods, and other records
disposition information that the records management program may require.
(5) Records
management
means 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.
(6) Records
liaison officers
mean the persons designated under section
2-110.
(7) Records
management committee
means the committee established in section
2-106.
(8) Records
management officer
means the person designated in section
2-105.
(9) Records
management plan
means the plan developed under section
2-107.
(10) Retention
period
means the minimum time that must pass after the
creation, recording, or receipt of a record, or the fulfillment of
certain actions associated with record, before it is eligible for
destruction.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 2, adopted 4/9/1990)
All city records as defined in section
2-101 are hereby declared to be the property of the City of Alamo Heights. No 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.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 3, adopted 4/9/1990)
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
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.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 4, adopted 4/9/1990)
The city secretary, and the successive holders of said office,
shall serve as records management officer for the City of Alamo Heights.
As provided by state law, each successive holder of the office shall
file his or her name with the director and librarian of the Texas
State Library within thirty (30) days of the initial designation or
of taking up the office, as applicable.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 5, adopted 4/9/1990)
There shall be no records management committee for the City
of Alamo Heights.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 6, adopted 4/9/1990)
(a) The
records management officer shall develop a records management plan
for the City of Alamo Heights 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, or disposed of
in accordance with the plan.
(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.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 7, adopted 4/9/1990)
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 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
Texas State Library and Archives Commission to determine if the records
management program and the city records 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 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.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 8, adopted 4/9/1990)
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 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) Maintain
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.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 9, adopted 4/9/1990)
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 interests of the records management
program more than one records liaison officer should 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 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.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 10, adopted 4/9/1990)
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.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 11, adopted 4/9/1990)
(a) The
records management officer, in cooperation with department heads and
records liaison officers, shall prepare records control schedules
on a department by department basis listing all records created or
received by the department and the retention period for each record.
Records control schedules shall also contain such other information
regarding the disposition of city records as the records management
plan may require.
(b) Each
records control schedule shall be monitored and amended as needed
by the records management officer on a regular basis to ensure that
it is in compliance with records retention schedules issued by the
state and that it continues to reflect the recordkeeping procedures
and needs of the department and the records management program of
the city.
(c) Before
its adoption a records control schedule or amended schedule for a
department must be approved by the department head and the records
management officer.
(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.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 12, adopted 4/9/1990)
(a) A records control schedule for a department that has been approved and adopted under section
2-107 shall be implemented by department heads 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
committee 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 from the records
management officer.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 13, adopted 4/9/1990)
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.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 14, adopted 4/9/1990)
Unless a micrographics program in a department is specifically
exempted by order of the city council, all microfilming of records
will be centralized and under the direct supervision of the records
management officer.
The records management plan will establish policies and procedures
for the microfilming of city records, including policies to ensure
that all microfilming is done in accordance with standards and procedures
for the microfilming of local government records established in rules
of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. The plan will
also establish criteria for determining the eligibility of records
for microfilming and protocols for ensuring that a microfilming program
that is exempted from the centralized operations is, nevertheless,
subject to periodic review by the records management officer as to
cost-effectiveness, administrative efficiency, and compliance with
commission rules.
(Ordinance 1229, sec. 16, adopted 4/9/1990)