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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRMAB Minutes 2011-01-01RMAB – March 21, 2011 at Noon Notes Present: Herb Engman, Paulette Terwilliger, Eric Levine, Lisa Carrier-Titti, and Laura Johnson- Kelly 1. Review Draft Records Management Policy a. Current Local Law revised to a policy format Paulette reviewed the plan to separate the current policy from the procedures. The draft policy, which is the current law with all procedures taken out, updated language and changes to the membership of the RMAB were reviewed. Comments: Change Lisa’s title to match Civil Service and minor grammatical errors were reviewed. It was decided that a final draft for referral to the TB would be reviewed at the next meeting. 2. Discuss relevancy of current Local Law a. Why was the local law enacted? b. Do we need a local law to state that we have a policy c. Discuss eliminating local law; trend towards simplifying i.e. Fees out of laws for ease of changes Paulette discussed the history of the current Records Management Local Law, its content and the two options of either repealing it or amending it. Discussion followed. It was decided that Paulette would contact the Assoc. of Towns to determine if a LL is needed and she would prepare a draft for both options for review at the next meeting. In discussing the various aspects and history of the law, different topics of concern came up: a) We need to develop a policy regarding records management when an employee leaves the Town’s employment and what records belong to whom. b) We need an in/out system for files and boxes in storage to track who has what at any given time. There was some discussion on the feasibility of participation. Paulette will come up with a draft proposal for discussion at the next meeting 3. Review Section 1 – Preliminary review done. Needs additional changes a. Define a department – with the various sizes and levels within the Town, what constitutes a department? 4. Review Section 2 – Preliminary review done. Needs additional changes 5. Set meeting schedule a. Monthly or bi-monthly It was decided that we would continue to meet monthly. Next meeting will be April 18th at noon. RMAB April 18, 2011 at Noon Notes Paulette Terwilliger, Herb Engman, Lisa Carrier-Titti and Eric Levine Review Notes from March No changes were made. Review corrected Records Management Policy Recommend referral to the Town Board Review options for repealing or replacing the current Local Law Paulette gave an overview on the options. The board decided to go with repealing the local law and adopting the RM Policy by resolution. A motion to forward the topic to the Town Board was made by Herb and seconded by Eric. Review options for Tracking Files and Boxes taken from Storage Areas It was decided that the topic would be brought up at SAC to determine what is done now and to solicit comments from Department Heads. Review Basics for Records Management when an Employee Leaves Service It has been an issue in the past and it seems we need a written policy or at least a statement or section in the Employee Manual that addresses this. Basically, any work done for the Town, received by the Town or by the Town employee is the Town’s property. Then you add the advances in technology and it really is a bit of a complicated subject. Paulette will research other municipalities and/or private sector policies for next meeting. There was a discussion on legal documents and how the Town gets them from counsel now and in the past. There has been a problem getting them from past counsel and Eric will look into the legalities of that and we need to pursue getting those files back to the Town. Review Definition of a “Department” When reviewing and developing a procedures manual, it is necessary to define a department. It was decided that a department can be identified by representation at SAC. Therefore, our departments are: Town Clerk’s Office which manages the records of the Town Board and Town Supervisor Public Works which encompasses Engineering Planning Information Technology Codes Accounting Human Resources Next meeting is May 16th at noon. RMAB October 17, 2011 Notes Present: Herb Engman and Paulette Terwilliger Absent: Eric Levine, Lisa Carrier-Titti and Laura Johnson-Kelly We discussed the topic items and I am forwarding you the changes we made. Please let me know of any concerns you may have. We would like to forward the Electronic Mail Management and Retention Policy to the Town Board for comment and approval next month. 1. Revisit Record Ownership Statement We had discussed adding a short statement to the Personnel Manual regarding ownership of Town records. In talking with Judy and then revising the statement, it became clear that it really belongs in the Records Management Policy with reiteration in each department’s procedures manual. We discussed how employees and officials would be aware of this statement and concluded that each new employee or official is required to sign-off on receiving the RM Policy and would therefore see the ownership statement. 3.1 Ownership of Records All records of the Town of Ithaca are considered to be owned by the Town of Ithaca as an entity regardless of what department or person originally created, received, or physically possesses them. Records are maintained by town personnel for the benefit of the public and all levels of government. The Official copy of a record will be physically stored at Town facilities and must not be removed. 2. Discuss backup tape retention – 5 week cycle -- Lisa will explain Paulette indicated that she and Lisa had discussed and reviewed backup tape retention and noted that it is important to have the process and retention schedule written down for legal reasons. The process/retention cycle is spelt out in the RM Policy and will be stated in Lisa’s RM procedures. 4.2.1 Disposition of Back-Up Tapes The Information Technology Department will back up the entire LAN on this schedule: A midnight backup of all changes to the LAN during the course of the day The Department will maintain ten different sets of tapes for daily backups and dispose of them on a 5 week schedule. The method of disposition shall be the writing over of the existing backup tape with the taping of the next backup in the cycle or the destruction of the tape. Refer to Section 7 Electronic Records 3. GIS Map Templates – the MU1 Schedule is being revised to address this. Keep them and will revisit when the Schedule is updated. Agreed 4. Section 4 Retention and Disposition of Records – It seemed that the major issues revolved around the backup tapes and emails. I think we have addressed those issues. The backup tape retention cycle is now spelt out and the email policy addresses emails. The Email Policy is referred to in the RM Policy. If anyone has comments regarding this section, please forward them as soon as possible. 5. Review draft Electronic Mail Management and Retention Policy Minor changes were made to the draft sent out (see yellow highlights) If anyone has any comments regarding this Policy, please forward them as soon as possible. RMAB -- Notes November 21, 2011 Present: Paulette Terwilliger, Herb Engman, Lisa Carrier-Titti, Laura Johnson- Kelly Review of Section Section 5 Storage and Preservation of Records 5.2 Storage of Archival Records – Discussed post it notes when storing archival records. Paulette noted that she usually removes them and puts a colored sheet of paper in place of it with any notes that were on the post it on the colored paper. Laura was concerned about acid content of the colored paper and Paulette said she would look into that. 5.5 Records Security Procedures – 1. Discussed the security of court records – Question was raised regarding whether court records needed additional security since all town staff have access to the vault. Paulette spoke with Linda Fetherbay with the town Court and closed files are public records and do not have to be secured any further than normal archive records. If and when certain court papers are “sealed” the envelope is literally sealed by staples and/or tape and no extra security measures are required by the State. 2. Discussed protecting against the theft or originals when the public is looking through documents they have FOILed. Paulette noted that both Sandy and Carrie have areas in front of their desks where the public look through documents and when she worked for Codes, she reviewed the documents prior to giving them to the public and then kept an eye on the person while they reviewed them. Although she noted that lawyers sometimes would go into the Tioga Room to review large files. She will talk to Planning and Codes about the subject and report back. Section 6 – No Comments Paulette then suggested that the December meeting be cancelled and the board begin reviewing departmental procedures in January. (approved) She noted that the Program and the outline will undoubtedly have changes to it as the departmental procedures are reviewed. She added that the reviews will be for efficiency and “green” efforts as well as for adherence to the MU1 schedule.