HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 3006ORDINANCE NO. 3006
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 2 OF THE NORTH RICHLAND
HILLS, TEXAS CODE OF ORDINANCES AND AMENDING THE
REGULATIONS CONCERNING THE RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION
OF RECORDS, AND PROVIDING FOR APPOINTMENT OF A
RECORDS MANAGEMENT OFFICER
WHEREAS, Title 6, Subtitle C, Local Government Code (Local Government Records
Act) provides that a municipality must establish by ordinance an active
and continuing records management program to be administered by a
Records Management Officer; and
WHEREAS, the City of North Richland Hills desires to adopt an ordinance for that
purpose and to prescribe policies and procedures consistent with the
Local Government Records Act and in the interests of cost-effective and
efficient recordkeeping;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS:
Section 1. Chapter 2 of the North Richland Hills Code of Ordinances is hereby
amended by adding a new Article V. which shall read as follows:
"ARTICLE V. RECORDS MANAGEMENT
SECTION 2-241. POLICY & PURPOSE.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Records Management Program of
the City of North Richland Hills, Texas," providing for the proper and efficient
management of the records of the city. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the City
to provide for efficient, economical, and effective controls over the creation, distribution,
organization, maintenance, use, and disposition of all municipal records through a
comprehensive system of integrated procedures for the management of records from
their creation to ultimate disposition, consistent with the requirements of the Texas
Local Government Records Act and accepted records management practice.
SECTION 2-242. DEFINITION OF MUNICIPAL RECORDS.
All documents, papers, letters, books, maps, photographs, sound or video recordings,
microfilm, magnetic tape, electronic media, or other information recording media,
regardless of physical form or characteristic and regardless of whether public access to
them is open or restricted under the laws of the state, created or received by the City or
any of its officers or employees pursuant to law or in the transaction of public business
are hereby declared to be the records of the City of North Richland Hills and shall be
created, maintained, and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this
ordinance or procedures authorized by it and in no other manner. Copies of records in
the same or another format and blank forms are not included within the definition of
records of the city.
Ordinance No. 3006
Page 1 of 7
SECTION 2-243. ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.
1. "Department director" shall mean the individual who by ordinance or
administrative policy is in charge of an office or department of the City that
creates or receives records.
2. "Essential record" shall mean any record of the City necessary to the
resumption or continuation of City operations in an emergency or disaster, to
the recreation of its legal and financial status of the City, or to the protection
and fulfillment of obligations to the people of the state.
3. "Permanent record" shall mean any record of the City for which the retention
period on a records control schedule is given as permanent.
4. "Records control schedule" shall mean a document prepared by or under the
authority of the Records Management Officer listing the records maintained
by the City, their retention periods, and other records disposition information
that the records management program may require.
5. "Records management" shall mean the application of management
techniques to the creation, use, maintenance, retention, preservation, and
disposal of records for the purposes of reducing the costs and improving the
efficiency of recordkeeping. The term includes the development of records
control schedules, the management of filing and information retrieval
systems, the protection of essential and permanent records, the economical
and space-effective storage of inactive records, control over the creation and
distribution of forms, reports and correspondence, and the management of
micrographics, electronic and other records storage systems.
6. "Records management officer" shall mean the City Secretary of the City or an
individual otherwise designated by the City Council.
7. "Records management program" shall mean the policies, procedures and
plan developed under Section 2-250 of this article for the purpose of records
management for the City.
8. "Retention period" shall mean the minimum time that must pass after the
creation, recording, or receipt of a record, or the fulfillment of certain actions
associated with a record, before it is eligible for destruction.
9. "Electronic storage" shall mean the maintenance of public information in the
form of digital electronic signals on a computer hard disk, magnetic tape,
optical disk, or similar machine-readable medium.
10. "Source document" shall mean the original public information record from
which an electronic record is made. The term does not include backup
copies of the data in any media generated from electronic storage.
Ordinance No. 3006
Page 2 of 7
SECTION 2-244. MUNICIPAL RECORDS DECLARED PUBLIC PROPERTY.
All municipal records as defined in Section 2-242 of this article are hereby declared to
be the property of the City. No city official or employee has, by virtue of his or her
position, any personal or property right to such records even though the city official or
employee may have developed or compiled them. The unauthorized destruction,
removal from files, or use of such records is prohibited. A city record exempted from
public disclosure under state or federal law shall not be made subject to disclosure by
its designation as city property under this section. Each department is the legal
custodian of its records. The Records Management Division of the City Secretary's
office is the physical custodian of all records transferred to Municipal Records or the
Records Storage Center.
It shall be the duty of each officer and/or employee of the city to protect, preserve, store
and/or transfer city records in accordance with state and federal statutes, the City
charter and ordinances and/or rules promulgated and approved by the city's records
management officer.
SECTION 2-245. DESIGNATION OF RECORDS MANAGEMENT OFFICER.
The City Secretary, and the successive holders of said office, shall serve as Records
Management Officer for the City. As provided by state law, each successive holder of
the office shall file his or her name with the director and librarian of the Texas State
Library within thirty days of the initial designation or of taking up the office, as
applicable.
SECTION 2-246. DUTIES OF RECORDS MANAGEMENT OFFICER.
In addition to other duties assigned in this article and duties established by state law,
the Records Management Officer shall:
1) administer the records management program and provide assistance in its
implementation and maintenance;
2) prescribe records disposition policies, systems, standards and procedures;
3) in cooperation with other responsible officials identify essential records and
establish a disaster plan for each city office and department to ensure
maximum availability of records for reestablishing city operations quickly and
with minimum disruption and expense;
4) develop procedures to ensure the permanent preservation of the historically
valuable records of the city;
5) establish filing and storage equipment standards;
6) monitor records retention schedules and administrative rules issued by the
Texas State Library and Archives Commission to determine if the city's
records management program and the city's records control schedules are in
compliance with state law and regulations;
7) disseminate to the city council and city departments information concerning
state laws and administrative rulings relating to managing city records;
8) ensure that the maintenance, preservation, electronic storage, destruction or
other disposition of city records are carried out in accordance with the policies
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and procedures of the records management program and requirements of
state law.
9) maintain records on the volume of records destroyed under approved records
control schedules, the volume of records imaged or stored electronically, and
the estimated cost and space savings as the result of such disposition;
10) instruct records liaison officers and other personnel in policies and
procedures of the records management plan and their duties in the records
management program
11)Bring to the attention of the City Manager any office not in compliance with
the policies and procedures of the records management program or the Local
Government Records Act.
SECTION 2-247. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF DEPARTMENT
DIRECTORS.
In addition to other duties assigned in this ordinance, department directors shall:
1) cooperate with the Records Management Officer in carrying out the policies
and procedures established in the City for the efficient and economical
management of records and in carrying out the requirements of this article;
2) keep records that adequately document the transaction of government
business and the services, programs, and duties for which the department
director and department staff are responsible; and
3) maintain or dispose of departmental records in accordance with the policies
and procedures of the records management program of the city and the
requirements of this article.
SECTION 2-248. DESIGNATION OF RECORDS LIAISON OFFICERS.
Each department director shall designate in writing to the Records Management Officer
a staff member to serve as Records Liaison Officer for the records management
program in the respective department. Persons designated as records liaison officers
will be thoroughly familiar with all the records created and maintained by the department
and shall have appropriate access to all records of the city maintained by the
department. In the event of a vacancy, the department director shall promptly designate
another person to fill the vacancy and will notify the Records Management Officer in
writing of the designation. A department director may serve as Records Liaison Officer
for his or her department.
SECTION 2-249. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF RECORDS LIAISON
OFFICERS.
In addition to other duties assigned in this article, Records Liaison Officers shall:
a) supervise the inventories of the department records for the purpose of preparing
records control schedules;
b) coordinate with the Records Management Officer to accomplish compliance with
the policies and procedures of the records management program in their
departments; and
Ordinance No. 3006
Page 4 of 7
c) disseminate information to department staff concerning the records management
program.
SECTION 2-250. RECORDS MANAGEMENT PLAN.
a) The Records Management Officer shall develop and maintain a records
management plan for the City for approval by the City Manager. The plan shall be
designed to enable the records management officer to carry out duties as prescribed by
state law and this article.
b) The records management plan shall establish policies, procedures and criteria for:
1) The reduction of costs and improvement of the efficiency of recordkeeping;
2) The adequate protection of the essential records of the city;
3) The proper preservation of city records that are of historical value;
4) The imaging of city records, including policies to ensure that all imaging is
done in accordance with state law and the standards and procedures for the
imaging of local government records established in rules of the Texas State
Library and Archives Commission.
5) The regulation of the operations and use of inactive records storage areas,
which shall serve as the depositories of inactive records of continuing value to
the city.
c) The records management plan shall be binding on all offices, departments,
divisions, programs, commissions, bureaus, boards, committees, or similar entities of
the city and records shall be created, maintained, stored, imaged or disposed of in
accordance with the plan.
d) State law relating to the duties, other responsibilities, or recordkeeping
requirements of a department director do not exempt the department director or the
records in the department director's care from the application of this article and the
records management plan adopted under it and may not be used by the department
director as a basis for refusal to participate in the records management program of the
city.
SECTION 2-251. RECORDS CONTROL SCHEDULES TO BE DEVELOPED;
APPROVAL; FILING WITH STATE.
a) The Records Management Officer, in cooperation with department directors, shall
prepare records control schedules for all city offices and departments.
b) Each records control schedule shall be monitored and amended as needed by the
Records Management Officer on a regular basis to ensure compliance with records
retention schedules issued by the state and that it continues to reflect the recordkeeping
procedures and needs of the department and the records management program of the
city.
Ordinance No. 3006
Page 5 of 7
c) Before its adoption a records control schedule or amended schedule for a
department must be approved by the Department Director and the Records
Management Officer.
d) Before its adoption a records control schedule must be submitted to and accepted
for filing by the director and librarian as provided by state law. If a schedule is not
accepted for filing, the schedule shall be amended to make it acceptable for filing. The
Records Management Officer shall submit the records control schedules to the director
and librarian of the Texas State Library.
SECTION 2-252. IMPLEMENTATION OF RECORDS CONTROL SCHEDULES;
DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS UNDER SCHEDULES.
a) Records control schedules that have been approved and adopted under Section 2-
251 shall be implemented by department directors and records liaison officers according
to the policies and procedures of the records management plan.
b) A record whose retention period has expired on a records control schedule shall be
destroyed unless
1) A public information request is pending on the record;
2) the subject matter of the record is pertinent to a pending law suit;
3) the department director requests in writing to the Records
Management Officer that the record be retained for an additional
period.
c) Prior to the destruction of a record under an approved records control schedule,
authorization for the destruction must be obtained from the Department Director and the
Records Management Officer.
SECTION 2-253. DESTRUCTION OF UNSCHEDULED RECORDS.
A record that has not yet been listed on an approved records control schedule may be
destroyed if its destruction has been approved in the same manner as a record
destroyed under an approved schedule and the Records Management Officer has
submitted to and received back from the Director and Librarian of the Texas State
Library an approved destruction authorization request.
SECTION 2-254. RECORDS STORAGE CENTER.
A records storage center, developed pursuant to the plan required by Section 2-250,
shall be under the direct control and supervision of the Records Management Officer.
Policies and procedures regulating the operations and use of the records center shall be
contained in the records management plan developed under Section 2-250.
SECTION 2-255. ELECTRONIC STORAGE OF RECORDS.
The records management plan will establish policies and procedures for the electronic
storage of city records, including policies to ensure that all electronic storage of the
city's records is done in accordance with Chapter 205 of the Local Government Code
Ordinance No. 3006
Page 6 of 7
and adheres to the standards and procedures set by the Texas State Library and
Archives Commission. All electronic storage of the city's records will be identified to
the Records Management Officer for compliance with established policies and
procedures.
City records defined in this article as source documents which are electronically stored
in compliance with Chapter 205 of the Local Government Code, may be disposed of
prior to the expiration of their retention period with the approval of the Department
Director and Records Management Officer, unless otherwise required by federal or
state law."
Section 2. Ordinance 1444 is hereby repealed. This ordinance shall be deemed
cumulative of all prior ordinances concerning the same subject matter.
Section 3. This ordinance shall be in full force and effective immediately upon
passage.
AND IT IS SO ORDAINED.
PASSED AND APPROVED on this 14th day of July 2008.
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By:
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Patricia Hutson, City Secretary
AP FORM AND LEGALITY:
Ge rge . Sta les, City Attorney
Ordinance No. 3006
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