§ 37.01 DEFINITIONS.

   For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.

   DEPARTMENT HEAD. The officer who by ordinance or administrative policy is in charge of an office of the city that creates or receives records.

   DIRECTOR and LIBRARIAN. The executive and administrative officer of the state’s Library and Archives Commission.

   ESSENTIAL RECORD. Any record of the city necessary to the resumption or continuation of its operations in an emergency or disaster, to the recreation of its legal and financial status or to the protection and fulfillment of obligations to the people of the state.

   PERMANENT RECORD. Any record of the city for which the retention period on a records control schedule is given as permanent.

   RECORDS CONTROL SCHEDULE. 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.

   RECORDS MANAGEMENT. 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 and electronic and other records storage systems.

   RECORDS MANAGEMENT OFFICER. The person designated in § 37.05(A) of this chapter.

   RECORDS MANAGEMENT PLAN. The plan developed under § 37.06 of this chapter.

   RETENTION PERIOD. 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.

(2012 Code, § 2-346)

Statutory reference:

   Definitions pertaining to local government records, see Tex. Local Government Code § 201.003 and Tex. Government Code § 441.151