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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 01/21/2003 - RESOLUTION 2003-008 ADOPTING A POLICY FOR THE USE, AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY ITEM NUMBER: 25 DATE: January 21, 2003 FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL FROM: Darin Atteberry ( SUBJECT : Resolution 2003-008 Adopting a Policy for the Use, Management and Retention of Electronic Mail by the Mayor and City Council and Adopting Guidelines for the Retention of Electronic Mail. RECOMMENDATION: Staff and the Council Governance Committee recommend adoption of the Resolution. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: i On April 17 and July 16, 2002, the Council Governance Committee reviewed and recommended adoption of a policy relating to electronic mail. At the November 12, 2002 City Council Retreat, the Mayor and Council reaffirmed their request for staff to develop a draft policy regarding the use and retention of e-mail pertaining to City business. A study session discussion on the topic was held December 10. The policy attached to the Resolution as Exhibit "A" is consistent with the policy for general employees. Following open record requests early in 2002, it became apparent that a policy and guidelines for record retention of e-mail would be helpful to assure appropriate preservation of the history of the organization. On a daily basis over 157,000 e-mail (in-bound and out-bound) are processed. At any point in time approximately 2.1 million e-mail messages are being held in the City's system. To effectively manage the capacity of the systems and to efficiently respond to record requests, a process was developed in response to these needs. Staff researched policies of other cities throughout Colorado and beyond. Recommendations were subsequently developed and an Administrative Employee Policy regarding e-mail was implemented late last year. I Electronic mail (e-mail) communication can be considered correspondence, and, as such, should be managed to conform with the City's General Retention Schedule. E-mail messages fall within the same categories as other correspondence and records — Temporary or Permanent. Exhibit `B" provides information related to types of e-mail messages and how to determine whether the messages should become a permanent record, or one that is temporary and to be discarded at the appropriate time. The City's e-mail system is designed for communication and not for the storage of messages. Therefore, electronic records and messages should not be preserved or archived in the City's e- mail system on a permanent basis, and should remain in the e-mail system only for short-term reference and use. I • RESOLUTION 2003-008 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS ADOPTING A POLICY FOR THE USE, MANAGEMENT AND RETENTION OF ELECTRONIC MAIL BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL AND ADOPTING GUIDELINES FOR THE RETENTION OF ELECTRONIC MAIL WHEREAS, the City Council recognizes electronic mail ("e-mail") as an important communication tool; and WHEREAS, e-mail systems are neither intended nor designed as systems for storage; and WHEREAS,the City is mindful of its obligations under the Colorado Open Records Act to generally make its e-mail available for public inspection,and is desirous of maintaining its records, including e-mail,in a manner that facilitates the efficient and expedient retrieval of such documents upon request; and WHEREAS,the City Manager has recently adopted an administrative policy governing the use, management and retention of electronic communications by employees in furtherance of these objectives; and WHEREAS,the City Council supports that administrative policy and desires that its e-mail be governed by a similar policy, with certain modifications tailored to the City Council's use of e- mail, which policy is attached hereto as Exhibit "A"and incorporated herein by this reference; and WHEREAS, the City has a General Records Retention Schedule that was approved by the State Archivist in 1991; and WHEREAS, the City has made a number of proposed revisions to this General Records Retention Schedule, which have not yet been approved by the State Archivist; and WHEREAS,City staff anticipates that the revised General Records Retention Schedule will be approved by the State Archivist within the year; and WHEREAS,the Council believes it will promote consistency and reduce confusion to adopt guidelines for the retention of Council e-mail,consistent with the proposed revisions to the General Records Retention Schedule, to be used in conjunction with the proposed e-mail policy, which guidelines are attached hereto as Exhibit`B" and incorporated herein by this reference. NOW,THEREFORE,BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF FORT COLLINS, that: Section 1. The e-mail policy concerning the Mayor and City Council members, attached hereto as Exhibit "A", is hereby adopted by the Council. Section 2. The Guidelines for the Retention of Electronic Mail, attached hereto as Exhibit`B",are hereby adopted by the Council to guide Council and staff in the implementation of the foregoing e-mail policy. Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held this 21st day of January, A.D. 2003. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk EXHIBIT `tA" • Council E-mail Policy Records of electronic message communications kept in the course of carrying out, or related to, City business, whether on paper or in electronic form, likely constitute records of the City, regardless of their physical location or the form in which they are maintained. Therefore, such records should be considered public records that are subject to the disclosure requirements of the Colorado Open Records Act. Furthermore, electronic messages may be discoverable in litigation. Accordingly, elected officials should have no expectation of privacy in either sending and/or receiving information electronically, and are responsible for using, managing, and retaining electronic communications in accordance with this policy. A. Use of E-mail by the Mayor and Council Members While elected officials may use e-mail to facilitate the development of ideas, such as the identification of positive and/or negative factors related to an idea or the suggestion of alternatives to a proposal, e-mail should not be used to test the level of Council support for any idea or proposal. B. Management of Electronic Communications Electronic communications related to City business should be handled with the same • level of care properly used in the creation, distribution, management and retention of paper records and correspondence. Electronic communications, including e-mail, are subject to the same etiquette and courtesy considerations as paper correspondence. E- mail misaddressed or received in error should be deleted after a reply is sent to inform the sender of the error. C. Retention of Electronic Communications All electronic records of the City are subject to the retention requirements set out in the City's Guidelines for the Retention of Council Electronic Mail, dated January 21, 2003, a copy of which is maintained in the City Clerk's Office. To enable the City to efficiently manage the retention of electronic communications, the Mayor and Council members are encouraged to use the City's e-mail system. If a Council member or the Mayor uses a private e-mail system to communicate regarding City business, the City's system should be included as a copied recipient. E-mail is a system that is designed for communication and not for the storage of messages. Therefore, electronic records and messages are not preserved or archived in the City's e-mail system on a permanent basis, and should remain in the e-mail system only for short-term reference and use. Effective January 1, 2003, all e-mail messages 91 days or older will be automatically purged from the e-mail system on a continuing basis. If an elected official determines that an e-mail communication should be retained for a • period exceeding 90 days, for reference or convenience, the elected official must save the e-mail as a disk file or print it out in hard copy form for permanent filing. EXHIBIT "B" Guidelines for the Retention of Council Electronic Mail January 21, 2003 Electronic mail is an electronic message that is transmitted between two or more computers or electronic terminals,whether or not the message is converted to hard copy format after receipt and whether or not the message is viewed upon transmission or stored for later retrieval, including electronic messages that are transmitted through a local, regional or global computer network. For the purposes of this policy,electronic mail will be considered to be correspondence,categorized and retained as follows: • Calendars and Notes -Retain until no longer needed Records kept to document and facilitate the routine planning and scheduling of meetings, appointments, and similar activities; includes calendars, appointment books, telephone messages, notes, diaries and similar records with routine content. • Transitory Value- Until material has been read or is no longer needed for reference General documentation of extremely short-term value, including advertisements, drafts and worksheets,desk notes,copies of materials circulated for informational"read only"purposes, and other records with preliminary or short-term informational value. • Complaints,Routine Services Requests,and CitizenPetitions -Retain for 90 days or until response or action has been taken by City Communications of various types that convey objections,dissatisfaction or disagreement with actions or positions taken or not taken by City; routine requests for service or information; petitions with no legal effect that are submitted to the City to express the opinions of the signers; and City's responses. • Routine Value-No longer than 90 days Operating documentation that is routine and contains no significant administrative, legal, fiscal,historical,informational,or statistical value. Includes routine letters or memoranda sent and received, reading or chronological files that are kept solely for convenience and contain duplicates of memos or letters that are also filed elsewhere, routine requests for information, transmittal documents that contain information of short term value, etc. • Long-Term Value - Permanent Documentation or correspondence with long-term administrative, policy, legal, fiscal, historical or research value; records that relate to policy issues and actions or activities in which an important precedent is set; records of historic events relating to the City or the community; records that document commitments made by the City; records of issues that are expected to reoccur; and other similar records and documentation.