This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Records Management Program of the City of North Richland Hills, Texas," providing for the proper and efficient management of the records of the city. 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 records through a comprehensive system of integrated procedures for the management of records from their creation to ultimate disposition, consistent with the requirements of the Texas Local Government Records Act and accepted records management practice.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
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 them 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 of North Richland Hills and shall be created, maintained, and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance or procedures authorized by it and in no other manner. Copies of records in the same or another format and blank forms are not included within the definition of records of the city.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
Department director
shall mean the individual who by ordinance or administrative policy is in charge of an office or department of the city that creates or receives records.
Essential record
shall mean any record of the city necessary to the resumption or continuation of city operations in an emergency or disaster, to the recreation of its legal and financial status of the city, or to the protection and fulfillment of obligations to the people of the state.
Permanent record
shall mean any record of the city for which the retention period on a records control schedule is given as permanent.
Records control schedule
shall mean 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.
Records management
shall mean 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, electronic and other records storage systems.
Records management officer
shall mean the city secretary of the city or an individual otherwise designated by the city council.
Records management program
shall mean the policies, procedures and plan developed under section 2-270 of this article for the purpose of records management for the city.
Retention period
shall mean 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.
Electronic storage
shall mean the maintenance of public information in the form of digital electronic signals on a computer hard disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, or similar machine-readable medium.
Source document
shall mean the original public information record from which an electronic record is made. The term does not include backup copies of the data in any media generated from electronic storage.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
All municipal records as defined in section 2-262 of this article are hereby declared to be the property of the city. No city official or employee has, by virtue of his or her position, any personal or property right to such records even though the city official or employee may have developed or compiled them. The unauthorized destruction, removal from files, or use of such records is prohibited. A city record exempted from public disclosure under state or federal law shall not be made subject to disclosure by its designation as city property under this section. Each department is the legal custodian of its records. The records management division of the city secretary's office is the physical custodian of all records transferred to municipal records or the records storage center.
It shall be the duty of each officer and/or employee of the city to protect, preserve, store and/or transfer city records in accordance with state and federal statutes, the City Charter and ordinances and/or rules promulgated and approved by the city's records management officer.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
The city secretary, 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 Texas State Library within 30 days of the initial designation or of taking up the office, as applicable.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
In addition to other duties assigned in this article and duties established by state law, the records management officer shall:
(1) 
Administer the records management program and provide assistance in its implementation and maintenance;
(2) 
Prescribe records disposition policies, systems, standards and procedures;
(3) 
In cooperation with other responsible officials identify essential records and establish a disaster plan for each city office and department to ensure maximum availability of records for reestablishing city 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 filing and storage equipment standards;
(6) 
Monitor records retention schedules and administrative rules issued by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to determine if the city's records management program and the city's records control schedules are in compliance with state law and regulations;
(7) 
Disseminate to the city council and city departments information concerning state laws and administrative rulings relating to managing city records;
(8) 
Ensure that the maintenance, preservation, electronic storage, destruction or other disposition of city records are carried out in accordance with the policies and procedures of the records management program and requirements of state law;
(9) 
Maintain records on the volume of records destroyed under approved records control schedules, the volume of records imaged or stored electronically, and the estimated cost and space savings as the result of such disposition;
(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) 
Bring to the attention of the city manager any office not in compliance with the policies and procedures of the records management program or the Local Government Records Act.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
In addition to other duties assigned in this article, department directors 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) 
Keep records that adequately document the transaction of government business and the services, programs, and duties for which the department director and department staff are responsible; and
(3) 
Maintain or dispose of departmental records in accordance with the policies and procedures of the records management program of the city and the requirements of this article.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
Each department director shall designate in writing to the records management officer a staff member to serve as records liaison officer for the records management program in the respective department. Persons designated as records liaison officers will be thoroughly familiar with all the records created and maintained by the department and shall have appropriate access to all records of the city maintained by the department. In the event of a vacancy, the department director shall promptly designate another person to fill the vacancy and will notify the records management officer in writing of the designation. A department director may serve as records liaison officer for his or her department.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
In addition to other duties assigned in this article, records liaison officers shall:
(1) 
Supervise the inventories of the department records for the purpose of preparing records control schedules;
(2) 
Coordinate with the records management officer to accomplish compliance with 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 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
(a) 
The records management officer shall develop and maintain a records management plan for the city for approval by the city manager. The plan shall be designed to enable the records management officer to carry out duties as prescribed by state law and this article.
(b) 
The records management plan shall establish policies, procedures and criteria for:
(1) 
The reduction of costs and improvement of the efficiency of recordkeeping;
(2) 
The adequate protection of the essential records of the city;
(3) 
The proper preservation of city records that are of historical value;
(4) 
The imaging of city records, including policies to ensure that all imaging is done in accordance with state law and the standards and procedures for the imaging of local government records established in rules of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
(5) 
The regulation of the operations and use of inactive records storage areas, which shall serve as the depositories of inactive records of continuing value to the city.
(c) 
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, imaged or disposed of in accordance with the plan.
(d) 
State law relating to the duties, other responsibilities, or recordkeeping requirements of a department director do not exempt the department director or the records in the department director's care from the application of this article and the records management plan adopted under it and may not be used by the department director as a basis for refusal to participate in the records management program of the city.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
(a) 
The records management officer, in cooperation with department directors, shall prepare records control schedules for all city offices and departments.
(b) 
Each records control schedule shall be monitored and amended as needed by the records management officer on a regular basis to ensure 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 director 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 of the Texas State Library.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
(a) 
Records control schedules that have been approved and adopted under section 2-271 shall be implemented by department directors 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.
(1) 
A public information request is pending on the record;
(2) 
The subject matter of the record is pertinent to a pending law suit;
(3) 
The department director 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 from the department director and the records management officer.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
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 of the Texas State Library an approved destruction authorization request.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
A records storage center, developed pursuant to the plan required by section 2-270, 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 2-270.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)
The records management plan will establish policies and procedures for the electronic storage of city records, including policies to ensure that all electronic storage of the city's records is done in accordance with V.T.C.A., Local Government Code ch. 205 and adheres to the standards and procedures set by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. All electronic storage of the city's records will be identified to the records management officer for compliance with established policies and procedures.
City records defined in this article as source documents which are electronically stored in compliance with V.T.C.A., Local Government Code ch. 205 of the Local Government Code, may be disposed of prior to the expiration of their retention period with the approval of the department director and records management officer, unless otherwise required by federal or state law.
(Ordinance 3006, § 1, adopted 7/14/2008)