[Adopted 4-23-1996 by L.L. No. 5-1996]
Records are essential to the administration
of local government. They contain the information that keeps government
programs functioning. It is the intent of this Article 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.
A.
There shall be a records management program established
under the aegis of the Town Clerk and headed by a records management
officer. The Town Clerk is designated as the records management officer
and will be responsible for administering the current and archival
public records in storage areas for the town in accordance with local,
state and federal laws and guidelines.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Those official records which have been determined by the
records management officer and the Advisory Committee to have sufficient
historical or other value to warrant the continued preservation by
the town.
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.
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.
The removal by the Town of North Hempstead, 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 the 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.
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 at the records center or other storage
facilities.
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 report annually
to the Town Board on the powers and duties herein mentioned, including,
but not limited to, the development and progress of programs to date
and planned activities for subsequent years.
D.
The records management officer shall operate a central
records management storage facility for storage, processing and servicing
all town records for all town departments and agencies.
E.
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 Archives Records Retention and Disposition Schedule.
(4)
The development of suitable retention periods for
records not covered by the State Records Retention and Disposition
Schedules. (Subsequently, the records management officer must secure
approval of such retention periods from the New York State Commissioner
of Education and gain adoption by the Town Board of any proposed change
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 and the encouragement of the continued efficient
management of records within respective departments.
(6)
The setting up and overseeing of a center for the
storage area.
(7)
The maintenance of archival materials which are not
official town records but which have historical value to the community
or close relationship to the existing archival collection. This shall
be subject to archive space, staff and cost limitation 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 of 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.
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 nine members, appointed by the
Supervisor. 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 propose changes and improvements.
C.
To review any changes in retention periods proposed
by the records management officer for records not covered by the 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.
Active records. The originating department has full
custody (legal and physical) over records still in active use.
B.
Inactive records. The originating department is the
legal custodian of its records and shall retain the power to retrieve
and use records deposited in inactive storage in the records center.
The records management officer will have physical custody of inactive
records and will determine the method and design of storage.
C.
Archival records. Records transferred to or acquired
by the archives shall be under the full custody (legal and physical)
of the archives, as directed by the records management officer, rather
than the department which created or held them immediately prior to
being transferred to the archives.
(1)
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 had custody of the records and
the approval of the Records Advisory Board.
(2)
Records may be removed (temporarily or permanently)
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.
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, or unless approved
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 records management officer will
allow the Town Historian to review and remove any single document
or sampling of documents that are of historic value to the community.
The Town Attorney may take steps to recover
legal government records which have been alienated from proper custody
and may, when necessary, institute actions of replevin.
[Amended 12-16-1997 by L.L. No. 26-1997; 4-18-2000 by L.L. No. 7-2000]
To comply with Article 6 of the Public Officers
Law, the following format will be followed:
A.
All requests for information shall be in writing,
shall reasonably describe the record requested and shall be made during
regular business hours of the Town of North Hempstead offices.
B.
Within five business days of the receipt of the written
request, one of the following shall occur:
C.
Any person denied access to a record may appeal within
30 days, in writing, such denial to the Town Attorney.
D.
The Town Attorney is hereby designated as the appeal
agency for determination of denials and will proceed as follows:
(1)
The Town Attorney shall, within 10 business days of
the receipt of an appeal, fully explain, in writing, to the person
requesting the record the reason for further denial, or the Town Attorney
shall provide access to the record sought.
(2)
The Town Attorney shall forward to the Committee on
Open Government a copy of such appeal when received by the agency
and shall also forward to said Committee the ensuing determination
thereon.
E.
A set fee will be charged per photocopy of record.
Such charges will be established by resolution of the Town Board.
F.
Records Access Officer.
(1)
A Deputy Town Attorney to be named by the Supervisor
is designated as the Chief Records Access Officer. All document requests
under Article 6 of the Public Officers Law shall be submitted in the
first instance to the Chief Records Access Officer on a form approved
by the Chief Records Access Officer. The Chief Records Access Officer
shall not confer with, or seek advice from, the appeals officer in
relation to a request made under Article 6 of the Public Officers
Law.
(2)
The Chief Records Access Officer shall be responsible for responding to all such requests involving the retrieval of active records, as defined in § 24-8 above.
(3)
Whenever the Chief Records Access Officer determines that the document request in question involves retrieval of inactive or archival records, as defined in § 24-8 above, the Chief Records Access Officer shall refer the request to the Town Clerk as the Records Access Officer for inactive and archival records.
