[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Bedford 11-20-1990
as L.L. No. 2-1990. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Public access to records — See Ch. 95.
There shall be a Records Management Program established under the aegis
of the Town Board and headed by a Records Management Officer (RMO) or his/her
designee. The Officer will be responsible for administering the noncurrent
and archival public records and storage areas for the Town of Bedford in accordance
with local, state and federal laws and guidelines.
The Officer shall have all the necessary powers to carry out the efficient
administration, determination of value, use, preservation, storage and disposition
of the noncurrent and archival public records kept, filed or received by the
offices and departments of the Town of Bedford. The Records Management Officer
shall:
A.
Continually survey and examine public records to recommend
their classification so as to determine the most suitable methods to be used
for the maintaining, storing and servicing of archival material, as follows:
(1)
Obsolete and unnecessary records according to New York
State records retention and disposition schedules thereby subject to the disposition.
(2)
Information containing administrative, legal, fiscal,
research, historical or educational value which warrant their permanent retention.
(3)
Records not subject to disposition according to state
law.
B.
Establish guidelines for proper records management in
any department or agency of the Town of Bedford in accordance with local,
state and federal laws and guidelines.
C.
Report annually to the Chief Executive Official and the
governing body on the powers and duties herein mentioned, including but not
limited to the cost/benefit ratio of programs effectuated by the Department.
D.
Operate a Records Management Center for the storage,
processing and servicing of all noncurrent and archival records for all Town
of Bedford departments and agencies.
E.
Establish a Town of Bedford Archives and perform the
following functions:
(1)
Advise and assist Town of Bedford departments in reviewing
and selecting material to be transferred to the Town of Bedford Archives for
preservation.
(2)
Continually survey and examine public records to determine
the most suitable methods to be used for the creating, maintaining, storing
and servicing of archival materials.
(3)
Establish and maintain an adequate repository for the
proper storage, conservation, processing and servicing of archival records.
(4)
Promulgate rules governing public access to and use of
records in the archives, subject to the approval of the Records Advisory Board.
(5)
Develop a confidentiality policy for archival records
designated confidential, provided that such policy does not conflict with
any federal or state statutes.
(6)
Provide information services to other Town of Bedford
offices.
(7)
Collect archival materials which are not official Town
of Bedford records but which have associational value to the Town of Bedford
or a close relationship to the existing archival collection. Such collecting
shall be subject to archive space, staff and cost limitations and to the potential
endangerment of such materials if they are not collected by the archives.
(8)
Develop a procedure whereby historically important records
are to be identified at the point of generation.
There shall be a Records Advisory Board designated to work closely with
and provide advice to the Records Management Officer. The Board shall consist
of local officials and interested citizens as appointed by the Town Board.
The Board shall meet periodically and have the following duties:
A.
To provide advice to the Records Management Officer on
the development of the Records Management Program.
B.
To review the performance of the program on an ongoing
basis and to propose changes and improvements.
C.
To review retention periods proposed by the Records Management
Officer for records not covered by state archives schedules.
D.
To provide advice on the appraisal of records for archival
value and to be the final sign-off entity as to what is or is not archival.
A.
A Town of Bedford department is the legal custodian of
its records and shall retain custody of records deposited in the Records Center.
Records transferred to or acquired by the archives shall be under the custody
and control of the archives rather than the department which created or held
them immediately prior to being transferred to the archives.
B.
Records shall be transferred to the archives upon the
recommendation of the Records Management Officer, with the approval of the
head of the department which has custody of the records and the approval of
the Records Advisory Board.
C.
Records may be permanently removed from the archives
at the request of the Records Management Officer or the head of the department
which had custody of the records immediately prior to the transfer of those
records to the archives, subject to the approval of the Records Advisory Board.
The Legal Department may take steps to recover local government records
which have been alienated from proper custody and may, when necessary, institute
actions of replevin.
No records shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by a department
of the Town of Bedford unless approval has been obtained from the Records
Management Officer. No records shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of
by the Records Management Officer without the express consent of the department
head having authority.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Those official records which have been determined by the Officer
and Advisory Committee to have sufficient historical or other value to warrant
their continued preservation by the local government.
Any documents, books, papers, photographs, sound recordings, microforms
or any other materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made
or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction
of official Town of Bedford business.
An establishment maintained by the Town of Bedford primarily for
the storage, servicing, security and processing of records which must be preserved
for varying periods of time and need not be retained in office equipment or
space.
The removal by the Town of Bedford, in accordance with approved records
control schedules, of records no longer necessary for the conduct of business
by such agency through removal methods which may include:
The transfer of records from one Town of Bedford agency
to any other Town of Bedford agency.
The planning, controlling, directing, organizing, training, promotion
and other managerial use and records disposition, including records preservation,
records disposal and records centers or other storage facilities.
Making information in records available to any Town of Bedford agency
for official use or to the public.
