(A) Township officials, appointees, employees, volunteers, consultants/contractors and departments shall organize records to promote fast and efficient retrieval of information. Appropriate and cost-effective office equipment, indexes and tools shall be used to maintain records.
(B) The Township Clerk shall periodically evaluate and make recommendations to the Township Board on the method(s) to be used to maintain and store records for their minimum retention periods. Records that will be retained for more than ten years shall be stored in an environment that facilitates the security and stability of the storage media. The township may utilize low-cost storage facilities for inactive records that have not fulfilled their retention requirements.
(C) The Clerk shall work in conjunction with the IT personnel to determine the most cost-effective and reliable method of maintaining digital and electronic records for their full retention period, so technology changes do not render them inaccessible and unusable.
(D) When reproducing township records for storage purposes, the township shall comply with the applicable state standards and best practices for record reproduction, as authorized by the Records Reproduction Act, M.C.L.A. §§ 24.401 et seq.
(E) Records containing sensitive or confidential information shall be protected against unauthorized access, especially records that are protected by state or federal laws, records containing private information, financial information, background checks, medical information and Social Security numbers. Individuals and offices shall employ appropriate locks, passwords and other devices to protect the privacy of this information.
(Board and Administrative Policies Manual, § 6.21)