Records are essential to the administration of local government.
They contain the information that keeps government programs functioning.
It is the intent of this chapter that a records management program
be established which will assist officials in making decisions, administering
programs and providing administrative continuity with past operations.
The program is intended to document the delivery of services, show
the legal responsibilities of government and protect the legal rights
of citizens. It will contain information on taxation and on the management
and expenditure of funds. These records will also document the historical
development of government itself, the community and the people of
the Town.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
ARCHIVES
Those official records which have been determined by the
Records Management Officer and Records Advisory Committee to have
sufficient historical or other value to warrant the continued preservation
by the Town.
RECORDS
Official files, minutes and documents, books, papers, photographs,
sound recordings, microforms or any other materials, regardless of
physical form or characteristics, made or received pursuant to law
or in conjunction with the transaction of official Town business.
RECORDS CENTER
A central storage area maintained by the Records Management
Officer for the storage, servicing, security and processing of records
which must be preserved for varying periods of time.
RECORDS DISPOSITION
The removal by the Town of Canandaigua, in accordance with
approved records control schedules, of the records no longer necessary
for the conduct of business by such agency through removal methods,
which may include the disposition of temporary records by destruction
or donation, or the transfer of records to a central storage facility
for records with scheduled retention periods or permanent storage
of records determined to have historical or other sufficient value
warranting continued preservation, or the transfer of records from
one Town agency to another Town agency.
RECORDS MANAGEMENT
The planning, controlling, directing, organizing, training,
promotion and other managerial activities involved in records creation,
records maintenance and use and records disposition, including records
preservation, records disposal and the records center or other storage
facilities.
SERVICING
Making information in records available to any agency for
official use or to the public.
The Records Management Officer shall have all the necessary
powers to carry out the efficient administration, determination of
value, use, preservation, storage and disposition of the public records
kept, filed or received by the officers and departments of the Town.
A. The
Records Management Officer shall continually survey and examine public
records to recommend their classification so as to determine the most
suitable method to be used for maintaining, storing and servicing
them under the following guidelines:
(1) Disposition: records deemed obsolete and unnecessary according to
the New York State Retention and Disposition Schedule are subject
to disposition.
(2) Archival retention: information containing administrative, legal,
fiscal, research, historical or educational value which warrants their
permanent retention.
(3) Active retention: records not yet subject to disposition according
to state law.
B. The
Records Management Officer shall establish guidelines for proper records
management in any department of the Town government in accordance
with local, state and federal laws and guidelines.
C. The
Records Management Officer shall operate a central records management
storage facility for storage, processing and servicing of all Town
records for all Town departments and agencies.
D. Additional
requirements of the Records Management Officer include but are not
limited to:
(1) The development of a comprehensive records management program.
(2) The conduct of an initial survey and analysis of all records, to
be followed up annually with a report of records stored.
(3) The encouragement and coordination of the continuous legal destruction
of obsolete records through the adoption and use of the State Archive
Record Retention and Disposition Schedules.
(4) The development of suitable retention periods for records not covered
by the State Records Retention and Disposition Schedules. (Subsequently,
the RMO must secure approval of such retention periods from the New
York State Commissioner of Education and gain adoption from the Town
Board of any proposed changes before the retention period takes effect.)
(5) The assistance to each department for the establishment of a records
management system to support the overall Town records management program;
encourage the continued efficient management of records within respective
departments.
(6) The setting up and overseeing of a center for the storage of inactive
records.
(7) Maintain archival materials which are not official Town records but
which have historical value to the community or a close relationship
to the existing archival collection. This 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) The coordinating and carrying out or participating in the planning
for development or advanced records management systems and equipment.
(9) The preparation of special and annual reports for the Town Board
on records management program progress, cost savings and cost avoidance
problems and additional issues.
No records shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by a
department of the Town until it has met the time limit on the State
Records Retention and Disposition Schedule and unless approved of
by the Records Management Officer. No records shall be destroyed or
otherwise disposed of by the Records Management Officer without the
express written consent of the department head having authority. Following
required consents and prior to actual destruction, the RMO will allow
the Town Historian to review and/or remove any single document or
sampling of documents that are of historic value to the community.
The Town Board may take steps to recover local government records
which have been alienated for proper custody and may, when necessary,
institute actions to recover such records.
Records shall be available for public inspection at the Canandaigua
Town Hall, 5440 Route 5 and 20 West, Canandaigua, New York 14424.
Requests for public access to records shall be accepted and
records produced during normal business hours. These hours are as
posted at the front entrance to Town Hall and on the Town's website.
A notice containing the title or name and business address of
the Records Access Officer and appeals person or body and the location
where records can be seen or copied shall be posted in a conspicuous
location wherever records are kept and/or published in a local newspaper
of general circulation.
If any provision of these regulations 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 chapter or the application thereof
to other persons and circumstances.