Hi Sally (and everyone),
It’s great
that you’re looking into the
development of a records management
policy, which is something that
every town office should have. I encourage
you to give me a call (828-2204) if
you have questions about this or any of the information on VSARA’s
website.
In records management, there are two kinds
of custody: legal and physical. The legal
custodian is the office or individual who has the legal
responsibility for maintaining the
record, regardless
of where the record is physically located. A physical
custodian is any office or individual that physically possesses a record.
Both the legal and the physical
custodian have obligations for
proper management of the
records. As a best practice, if you are the legal custodian of a record,
it should either be in your custody, or you should have a formal agreement with
the physical custodian who is holding it for you.
Here are two examples:
- If
your town has backup copies of land records stored at the State Records Center,
those records are in your legal custody, but they are in VSARA’s
physical custody. This is why earlier this year you were asked to
sign a storage agreement governing the management of those records
(although some towns have still not returned their agreement – tsk
tsk!).
- If
you have school registers in
your vault, you are the physical custodian of those records. The
legal custodian is the superintendent of schools (see 16 V.S.A. § 1324) so
you should have a written agreement in place regarding the management of
those registers.
Your records management
policy should refer to any agreements
you have in place, either in your role as legal
custodian of records stored elsewhere or as physical custodian of records that
are not yours. The policy should also outline the consequences for
officials who fail to turn over records in a timely fashion to the appropriate
legal custodian.
If a record is out of your physical
custody without an agreement or policy, you are exposing yourself to legal
liability. You can’t attest to the authenticity or integrity of the record
because you can’t prove that it wasn’t altered. You also can’t
ensure the record is available for public access as required, or that restricted
records have been kept secure from unauthorized access. Having a written
policy helps to hold staff members and other town officials responsible for
their part in this.
The issue of taking work home is a frequent
one. In general, I advise
clerks to set a policy that public records cannot be taken home. What is
a public record? Any written or recorded information, regardless of
physical form or characteristics, which is produced or acquired in the course
of public agency business (see 1 V.S.A. § 317(b)). Both
“open” and “closed/confidential/restricted” records are
considered public, because they are records of the people of the State of
Vermont. This definition includes email that is related in any way to work
as a public official or employee, even if it is sent from a personal/home email
address. (By the way, it also includes any emails you send to or receive
from the VMCTA listserv, if the topic is related to your work.)
Record retention is governed by 1 V.S.A. §
317a, which essentially prohibits you from disposing of ANY public record (yes,
including email correspondence) unless you are permitted to do so by a specific
law or by an authorization issued by our office. All authorizations that
are currently available are on our website here: http://www.vermont-archives.org/records/local/.
If you have questions about what you see there, I am just a phone call or
an email away.
I hope this is helpful. As always,
don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions or want to discuss
this in more depth.
Katie
Katie Sherman
Records Analyst
Vermont State Archives and Records Administration
1078 Route 2, Middlesex
Montpelier, VT
05633-7701
(tel) 802-828-2204
(fax) 802-828-3710
[log in to unmask]
From: Vermont Municipal Government Discussion Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sally
Hoyler
Sent: Wednesday, September 29,
2010 10:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: records management policy
Anyone have a records management policy or ideas about such a policy to
share? I've collected lots of info from the VSARA site which is useful, but
also overwhelming when starting from scratch. I'm feeling the need to get all
town officers on board about how we handle records, paper and electronic. Of
particular concern are how we manage correspondence between officers and making
sure records remain within the office so that they are properly available as
public record. The increasing use of e-mail and folks taking work home is
leaving me feeling out of control of the very thing I'm responsible for! I
figure an overall policy encompassing all records would be a great tool and
help correct any bad practices without singling anyone out.
Thank you! Sally
--
Sally Hoyler
Town Clerk/Treasurer
PO Box 10
Ripton, VT
05766
802-388-2266 ph
802-388-0012 fx