(A) KRS 61.8715 recognizes “an essential relationship” between the intent of KRS Ch. 61, relating to open records, and the intent of KRS Ch. 171, relating to records management and the role of the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (KDLA), declaring that in order “to ensure the efficient administration of government and to provide accountability of government activities, public agencies are required to manage and maintain their records according to the requirements of these statutes.” The city recognizes that proper records management facilitates records access.
(B) The city shall ensure that records containing adequate and proper documentation of its organizational functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions are created and preserved, including records containing information necessary to protect the city’s legal and financial rights and the legal and financial rights of persons directly affected by the city’s activities.
(C) The city shall establish an active, continuing program for the economical and efficient management of its records that includes effective controls over the creation, maintenance, and disposition of those records. The city recognizes that records retention schedules, which govern records retention and disposition, are a key component of this program.
(D) The city shall rely on the local government general records schedule and the municipal government records schedule for all questions concerning records management, retention, and disposition. These schedules, adopted in regulation at 725 KAR 1:061, provide legal authority for the destruction of city records that have met their retention period. The city shall employ procedures governing proper destruction of city records set forth in Destruction of Public Records: A Procedural Guide.
(E) City records retained beyond their authorized retention period may be subject to public disclosure upon request, even if the records retention was not required under the retention schedule.
(F) The city shall not destroy a record that has met its retention period, but not yet been destroyed, if the record is the subject of, or relates to, active or pending litigation, audit, open records request, or appeal of an open records decision.
(G) An unscheduled city record that does not appear on either the local government general records schedule of the municipal government records schedule shall be retained as a permanent record until it is properly scheduled.
(H) The city shall ensure that it retains control of any and all public records that are stored offsite or whose management and retention is outsourced, and that the records are immediately accessible for production in response to an open records request.
(I) The city shall maintain records in hard copy or electronic format based on the content of the records not the records’ format. For example, correspondence may be transmitted electronically, by email, or by traditional means, on paper. If the correspondence documents the city’s major activities, functions and programs and the important events in its history, it is official correspondence and shall be retained permanently. If the correspondence is not crucial to the preservation of the city’s administrative history, is generally of a non-policy nature and without permanent value, and deals only with the city’s general operations, it is routine correspondence and shall be retained for two years after which it can be destroyed. If the correspondence is not related to city business in any way and consists of messages of a purely personal nature, spam, and other unsolicited correspondence, it is nonbusiness related correspondence and shall be destroyed or deleted upon receipt or as soon as possible thereafter.
(J) All city officers and employees are responsible for maintaining the integrity of records regardless of whether those records are stored electronically or in hard copy. City records in the officer’s or employee’s custody and control must be properly managed, retained, and accessible until all legal, fiscal, and administrative retention periods have been met, regardless of the record’s format.
(K) Communications conducted on email accounts issued by the city to city officials and employees shall be restricted to city business and are presumptively public records. Whether the public records are subject to public inspection and therefore open records depends on the content of the communication and the strict application of one or more of the 16 statutory exemptions found at KRS 61.878(1)(a) through (p). City issued email accounts may be subject to search.
(L) City officials and employees shall use city issued email accounts in all matters relating to city business. If personal email accounts must be used, the city official or employee shall send a copy of the communication to the city official’s or employee’s city email account and forward any received message relating to city business to the city official’s or employee’s city email account.
(M) Records retention schedules and management practices apply equally to all city records regardless of whether the records originate or are stored on a publicly-issued electronic device or on public premises.
(N) The city shall strictly adhere to records management and retention requirements established in KRS 171.410 et seq., and best practices as delineated in Managing Government Records: A Cooperative Undertaking, published by KDLA, and the guidance documents referenced therein.
(1984 Code, § 37.09) (Ord. O-14-19, passed 6-11-2019)
Statutory reference:
Similar provisions, see KRS 171.410 et seq., 171.640, 171.680