(A) Every officer and employee to preserve. Except as provided under § 37.08 below, each and every officer and employee of the Village of Linden is the legal custodian of and shall safely keep and preserve without exception all property and things:
(1) Which are received from his or her predecessor or other persons and required by law to be filed, deposited or kept in his or her office;
(2) Which are in the lawful possession or control of his or her deputies; or
(3) To which possession or control he, she, or his or her deputies may be lawfully entitled, as such officer or employee.
(B) Delivery to successor. Upon the expiration of his or her term of office or employment, or whenever his or her office or position of employment becomes vacant, each such officer or employee or on his or her death, his or her legal representative, shall deliver to his or her successor all such property and things without exception then in his or her custody, and his or her successor shall receipt to that officer or employee, who shall file the receipt with the Village Clerk. If a vacancy occurs before such successor is qualified, such property and things without exception shall be delivered to and be receipted for by the Village Clerk, on behalf of the successor, to be delivered to such successor or upon the latter’s receipt.
(C) Property and things defined. For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
PROPERTY AND THINGS. Include, but are not limited to, the following: documents, records, files, paper, handwritten, typed or printed pages, drafts, notes, informal notations, preliminary computations, points with authorities and other materials prepared either as records or for the purpose of preserving remembrance or memory of what the author has done to discharge the duties of his or her office or employment; maps, surveys, charts, photographs, films, recordings, tapes (including computer tapes), computer printouts, monies, books and furniture, pertaining to, belonging to or preserved in his or her office or employment.
RECORDS. Any material on which written, drawn, printed, spoken, electronic mail, electronic messages, visual or electromagnetic information is recorded or preserved, regardless of physical form and characteristics, which has been created or is being kept by that authority. The intent of this section is to be totally inclusory.
(Ord. 38-07, passed - -07)