(A) General.
(1) The city is responsible for providing any supplies, special clothing, equipment, vehicles and materials necessary for employees to perform their jobs. These items are to be used solely for the city’s purposes. Each employee is expected to exercise care in the use of city equipment and property and use such property only for authorized city uses. Negligence in the care and use of city property may be considered grounds for discipline, up to and including termination.
(2) The city’s equipment and supplies, such as telephone, postage, facsimile and copier machine are intended to be used for business purposes only. Any personal or non-business use that is not permitted will be charged to employees at the same rate as charged to the public.
(3) Upon termination of employment, the employee must return all city property, special clothing, equipment, work product and documents in his or her possession or control.
(B) Computer use. City computers are for city business use only. Employees are prohibited from installing unauthorized software or downloading information from the internet for personal use on city computers. Employees desiring internet access for personal use may use the city library computers. Employees may use their personal computers and other wireless devices to access the city’s wireless signal. Use of computers for personal use shall be only on employee’s own time.
(C) Email. City email is city property and may be used for city business. City email is not to be used for employee personal gain or to support or advocate for non-city-related business or purposes. All use of email is subject to management access pursuant to the following policy.
(1) Incidental and occasional personal use of email can sometimes not be avoided, but such messages will be treated no differently from other messages.
(2) No computer system is completely secure. Email is not intended to transmit sensitive materials such as personnel decisions, legal opinions or confidential material that may be more appropriately communicated by written memorandum or personal conversation.
(3) Employees may not intentionally intercept, eavesdrop, record, read, alter or receive another employee’s message without proper authorization in accordance with this policy.
(4) This policy applies to all employees, contractors, part-time employees, volunteers or other individuals provided with access to the city’s email accounts.
(5) Employees’ email communications should be routinely and regularly deleted from their inboxes or moved to folders.
(6) Solicitation of funds, political messages and harassing email are prohibited.
(7) Use of city email for personal business, whether for profit or non-profit is prohibited.
(8) The city may access email messages sent or received using city systems for all individuals covered by this policy for any purposes not specifically prohibited by law. If practicable, employees will be notified in advance of such access or receive notice within a reasonable time after the access. Employees will be notified of the date of access, purposes of access and identity of the person who accessed the information and information obtained.
(9) Employees are informed that supervisors may disclose to parties within or outside the city the contents of email sent to and between individuals covered by this policy without the permission of the individuals if it serves the interests of the city or the public.
(Res. 2010-23, passed 11-4-2010)