[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Brutus: Art. I, 10-7-1974
by resolution; Art. II, 9-13-1993 as L.L. No. 3-1993.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 10-7-1974 by resolution]
The Town Clerk is hereby designated records access officer and is the
person from whom records may be obtained, including eligible payroll information.
Under the Freedom of Information Act,[1] the name, address, title and salary of town officers and employees
are available only to the news media.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Art. 6 of the Public Officers Law.
The location where records will be available for public inspection and
copying is the Town Clerk's office, and the times when such records are
available are the normal posted office hours of the Town Clerk.
Photocopies of records will be available at $0.10 per page for letter
size and $0.15 per page for legal size.
A person denied access to public records may appeal to the Town Board,
and the Town Board must either grant access or issue a written opinion explaining
the reason for denial within seven days.
A copy of this resolution shall be posted on the town signboard, and
copies shall be made available to the public and news media on request. Applications
for inspection or copying of records shall be made on an application form
and shall be available from the Town Clerk. Application by the news media
to examine public employment records shall be made on a form available from
the Town Clerk for that purpose. The following subject matter and kinds of
records shall be made available for public inspection:
A.
Final opinions made in the adjudication of cases.
B.
Statements of policy and interpretation adopted by the
Board.
C.
Minutes of Town Board meetings and public hearings.
D.
Internal or external audits and statistical or factual
tabulations. The news media shall have access to the name, address, title
and salary of every town officer and employee.
E.
Town local laws, ordinances and orders.
The following subject matter and records shall not be available pursuant
to said statute:
A.
Information specifically exempted by statute.
B.
Information confidentially disclosed for the regulation
of commercial enterprise which, if openly disclosed, would permit an unfair
advantage to competitors.
C.
Information which would be an unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy under standards issued by the State Committee on Public Access
to Records.
D.
Information which is part of a law enforcement investigatory
file.
E.
Employment, medical or credit histories or personal references
of applicants for employment.
F.
Items of a personal nature, when disclosure would result
in an economic or personal hardship and such records are not relevant or essential
to the ordinary work of the town.
[Adopted 9-13-1993 as L.L. No. 3-1993]
There shall be a records management program established under the aegis
of the Town Board and headed by a Records Management Officer (RMO). The Records
Management Officer will be responsible for administering the noncurrent and
archival public records and storage areas for the town in accordance with
local, state and federal laws and guidelines.
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 noncurrent and archival public records kept,
filed or received by the offices and departments of the town. 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:
(1)
Obsolete and unnecessary records according to New York
State Records Retention and Disposition Schedules, thereby subject to disposition.
(2)
Information containing administrative, legal, fiscal,
research, historical or educational value which warrants 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 in accordance with local, state and federal
laws and guidelines.
C.
Report annually to the chief executive and the governing
body of 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
departments and agencies.
E.
Establish a town archives and perform the following functions:
(1)
Advise and assist town departments in reviewing and selecting
material to be transferred to the town 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 offices.
(7)
Collect archival materials which are not official town
records but which have associational value to the town 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 the Town Supervisor, one Town Councilman and the Town Historian. The Board
shall meet periodically and have the following duties. The Board shall:
A.
Provide advice to the Records Management Officer on the
development of the records management program.
B.
Review the performance of the program on an ongoing basis
and propose changes and improvements.
C.
Review retention periods proposed by the Records Management
Officer for records not covered by state archives' schedules.
D.
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.
The Town Records Management Officer 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 Attorney for the town 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 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 written consent of the department head
having authority.
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 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, microfilms
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 business.
An establishment maintained by the town 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 space.
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 agency for official
use or to the public.
