Records management program standards will be established for the maintenance and security of city and borough of Sitka records. The records management program shall provide for the orderly and efficient management, retention, preservation and disposal of records. This program will establish standards for the preparation of the records retention schedule which provides for the retention of municipal records of permanent value and for the prompt and orderly disposition of municipal records no longer possessing administrative, legal or historic value to warrant their retention.
An integral part of records management shall be the designation of prompt storage and archival of various records, including the research and recommendation of electronic document storage. The records manager and records archivist will work in conjunction with the information systems department, which is in charge of the city and borough of Sitka’s computer systems.
The municipal clerk will develop the rules and procedures for the municipal records management program.
The records management program will annually review the fee schedule for duplicating public records and for providing electronic services, products, and employee labor when the request requires more than one hour.
(S.G.C. 1.35.010; Ord. 02-1660 § 4, 2002; Ord. 07-20 § 4, 2007)
The municipal clerk is the records manager and is custodian of the official records relating to the assembly and administration of the city and borough of Sitka.
(S.G.C. 1.35.015; Ord. 02-1660 § 4, 2002; Ord. 07-20 § 4, 2007)
The records archivist works directly under the direction of the municipal clerk to ensure that the records management program is being implemented according to AS 40.21 and this chapter.
(S.G.C. 1.35.020; Ord. 07-20 § 4, 2007)
The head of each department shall designate one person to be its records manager, who will be the custodian of that department’s records. The head of each department will notify the records manager of that appointment.
(S.G.C. 1.35.025; Ord. 02-1660 § 4, 2002; Ord. 07-20 § 4, 2007)
There shall be a records review committee to work with the municipal clerk and records archivist on the records management program. Members of that committee will be the finance director, information services director, and municipal clerk; outcomes and decisions will be approved by the municipal attorney.
(S.G.C. 1.35.030; Ord. 02-1660 § 4, 2002; Ord. 07-20 § 4, 2007)
The city and borough of Sitka adopts the attached records retention schedule specific to the city and borough of Sitka’s records, noting that this is considered a “living” document. As new record series are added or no longer in circulation, the schedule will be revised noting the latest date of revision.
(S.G.C. 1.35.035; Ord. 02-1660 § 4, 2002; Ord. 07-20 § 4, 2007)
A. 
General.
1. 
Each department will designate one person to the records manager to act as a records coordinator. He or she will be custodian of that department’s records, and will offer input as to the management of its department’s records.
2. 
Each department will have written standards for orderly, efficient records maintenance and security. This shall include the use of space, equipment and supplies.
3. 
Each department shall complete the necessary records management forms to assist in determining records that will be kept in the department or transferred to the records center for permanent storage or destruction.
4. 
The Sitka police department will follow the city’s record retention schedule in the absence of a state schedule. The records coordinator for the police department is responsible to follow and implement the policies and procedures as described in the records information handbook.
B. 
Records Retention Schedule.
1. 
The city and borough of Sitka adopts the attached records retention schedule specific to the city and borough of Sitka’s records, noting that this is considered a “living” document and as new records are added or no longer in circulation, the schedule will be revised noting the latest date of revision. (July 2007)
2. 
The municipal clerk, as records manager, and records archivist, shall work with the records review committee and departmental records coordinators to address records not contained in the adopted retention schedule.
3. 
The municipal clerk will establish new rules for records retention in consultation with department personnel.
4. 
The municipal clerk will provide each department with a copy of the city and borough of Sitka’s retention schedule (available online) each time it is revised, at least quarterly.
5. 
The retention schedule states the duration for which the departments will retain each record type typically held by them. Should the schedule fail to address certain records, the department coordinator shall advise the municipal clerk who will meet with the records review committee to determine those records’ retention periods. These records will be incorporated as needed. Prior to destruction of any records a “certificate of records destruction” form must be completed and executed.
C. 
Access and Requests for Records.
1. 
The locations of city and borough of Sitka records storage will be designated by the records review committee in collaboration with department personnel to ensure coordination between departments and the records center.
2. 
The public records of the city and borough of Sitka are open to inspection by the public under reasonable rules during regular office hours. Disclosing public records and making copies of them upon payment of the required fees, if any, is a public agency obligation.
3. 
For other than routine copying, each department shall maintain a copy of each public request for records form and route the original to the records center. The public records request form shall contain the date of request, name of requestor and, if longer than one working day is required to fill the request, the date requestor is provided the material. A log of all requests will be maintained at the records center by the records archivist. The log of public requests becomes disposable in three years.
4. 
As soon as practical, but not later than the tenth working day after the date the municipal entity receives a request for public records, the requested entity shall furnish all disclosable records or advise the requestor the reason records are not disclosable, citing the specific legal authority and facts. Under extenuating circumstances, with adequate notice provided the requestor, the 10-day time period may be extended. Reasons for extensions: need to search and collect records from multiple offices; voluminous amount of records requested needs to be copied.
5. 
If a record contains both disclosable and nondisclosable material, the latter will be withheld. The nondisclosable portions will be redacted and the disclosable remainder copied for the requestor.
6. 
Municipal employees are not to manipulate data to create new records in response to a request for public records. However, if you can electronically sort an existing database for the requested subset of data and print just that, do so.
7. 
Municipal employees are not to compile or summarize public records in response to a request for public records.
8. 
Access to confidential information is protected as provided by law.
9. 
If a department is unable to locate a requested record, the search will continue until the record is located or until it appears that the record does not exist or is not in the municipality’s possession. The requestor shall be notified of the search result(s).
D. 
Exemptions for Particular Records.
1. 
This section shall not be construed to require disclosure of the following records or information:
a. 
Personnel, payroll or medical files which reveal the financial or medical status of any specific individual, the release of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy;
b. 
Records of vital statistics and adoption proceedings;
c. 
Records pertaining to juveniles;
d. 
Medical and related public health records;
e. 
Records required to be kept confidential by federal or state law;
f. 
Trade secrets;
g. 
Patented and/or copyrighted material;
h. 
Organized, coordinated, collated, modified, created, interpreted or compiled information. Nothing in this chapter requires an agency or department to organize, coordinate, collate, modify, create, interpret or compile records requested. Only a literal or verbatim record need be provided;
i. 
Police investigation compiled by any agency as a part of an investigation of criminal activity, except that such records may be released to other governmental agencies if necessary for the proper administration of justice. Police information practices in regard to criminal justice information shall be governed by the provisions of AS 12.62.180 et seq.;
j. 
Records of engineering, marketing, accounting or other technical financial data, which, if released, would provide a competitive advantage to other persons or businesses engaged in similar or related activities;
k. 
Proprietary information which a manufacturer, consultant or provider reasonably expects to be kept privileged or confidential to protect the property interests of persons providing the information or data;
l. 
City personnel records, including employment application and examination materials;
m. 
Communications between any agency and the municipal attorney or the city’s outside legal counsel which contain legal questions concerning potential, pending or actual litigation. This subsection does not protect from disclosure documents which were public records prior to the commencement of the litigation, and public records which are otherwise subject to disclosure may not be protected from disclosure by mere submission to the municipal attorney or the city’s outside legal counsel. Any documents marked “Confidential” which are submitted to the municipality from the municipal attorney’s or the city’s outside legal counsel’s office shall only be produced if the municipal attorney so authorizes.
E. 
Appeal of denial of request. In the event an individual requests information and is refused, the individual shall be notified in writing within five working days of his or her right to appeal that decision to the municipal administrator. If not satisfied with the ruling of the municipal administrator, the individual shall be notified within five working days of that decision of his/her right to appeal to the assembly at its next regularly scheduled meeting. An individual not satisfied with the action taken by the assembly shall have the right to appeal to supreme court as long as that appeal is filed no later than 30 days after the action of the assembly.
F. 
Fee schedule.
1. 
Municipal employees shall duplicate and provide copies of a public record upon request and upon payment of applicable fees.
2. 
There shall be no fee for materials of current routine public distribution (including current assembly minutes or agenda, pamphlets, copies of speeches, press releases, applications, etc.).
3. 
The municipal clerk shall give, on request and payment of costs, a certified copy of any public record required to be disclosed under this code. A fee is charged for certified copies in accordance with the following schedule.
4. 
There shall be one fee schedule established for all municipal departments. The fees do not exceed actual costs for machine usage, materials, and employee salary for a person completing the request. The basic city and borough fee schedule is outlined as follows:
Materials
$0.25 per page
$10.00 per copied audio cassette tape
$25.00 per copied video cassette tape
$10.00 per copied CD
$25.00 per copied DVD
$5.00 copies of plats
$20.00 mylar copies of plats
$1.25 (1st page), $0.25 (ea. additional page) certified copies
Labor
The associated salary of employee(s) filling a request, when retrieval and duplication of the documents requested generates labor in excess of one hour.
Reduction/Waiver
The municipal clerk may reduce or waive a fee when it determines that the reduction or waiver is in the public interest. Fee reductions and waivers shall be uniformly applied among persons who are similarly situated. Any city and borough employee may waive a fee of $5.00 or less.
(S.G.C. 1.35.040; Ord. 02-1660 § 4, 2002; Ord. 07-20 § 4, 2007)