(A) Official records. Prior to establishing retention requirements to an e-mail message, it first must be determined if the e-mail message is a public record, and if it is, what type of public record. The following criteria need to be considered, and will determine if the message is a public record:
(1) Definition: “Any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business... prepared, owned, used or retained by a public body regardless of physical form or characteristics.” Convenience/duplicate copies are not public record. Information created or received by an e-mail system is a record if it meets this definition.
(2) Content and function: This needs to be determined for each e-mail message. Content and function will determine record type. Additional criteria, as listed below, provides for the value of the e-mail message to the user/agency. Audit and federal requirements also need to be looked at. In some cases, this may change the required minimum retention, or provide added value to the user/agency.
(3) Administrative value: means the usefulness of records in conducting an agency’s current business.
(4) Fiscal value: means the usefulness of records in documenting an agency’s fiscal transactions and obligations.
(5) Legal value: means the usefulness of records in documenting legally enforceable rights or obligations, both those of the city and those of persons directly affected by an agency’s action.
(6) Audit: if the record is of a fiscal nature, an audit period will be required.
(7) Federal: if the record is part of a federally funded program, federal retentions will apply. If in doubt, assume e-mail is a public record.
(B) Retention application and management responsibility. Once an e-mail message has been determined to be a public record, a retention needs to be applied. A wide variety of information can be transmitted by e-mail; therefore, the retention periods for the records created will vary according to their content and function.
(1) E-mail records which pertain to a program or function should be filed with other records related to the program or function. The e-mail then has the same retention as the rest of the file. The e-mail record must be kept for the minimum retention period of 120 days.
(2) Attached records need to be filed according to their function and content, and they will assume the retention of the records they are filed with. Messages must be stored with a copy of the attachment in its original form. Message transmission and receipt data must be stored along with the message. If it has been determined that the e-mail record has an audit requirement, the record retention must take this into consideration. Additionally, if it has been determined that the record is part of a federally funded program, then retention requirements must meet the Code of Federal Regulations retention. Basically, if the department/division’s paper and electronic records have been scheduled, this same schedule will apply to the e-mail records. Records must be maintained for the full retention period. Note: if a hard copy (paper) of the e-mail record is generated, the e-mail record can be discarded, and the retention applied to the hard copy.
(C) Records management responsibility. To provide for consistent record retention and management of an e-mail record, the following will apply:
(1) Originator: has the responsibility of identifying the record copy and therefore applying a retention, and subsequently, managing the record copy.
(2) Recipient(s), internal sources: staff receiving copies will know that their convenience copies can be deleted as soon as the copies are no longer needed for personal reference purposes. For example, if an e-mail message is sent within the village and three employees are copied, the three identical copies of the message do not have to be maintained for the full retention period required for the record as long as the originating record is retained by the originator.
(3) Recipient(s), external sources: has the responsibility of identifying the record copy, and therefore applying a retention, and subsequently managing the record copy. For example, if an e-mail message is received from outside the village, and the message contains information relating to the conduct of the public’s business and is owned, used, or retained by the village, then the information falls within the scope of the Public Records Law. Responsibility for the retention and maintenance of records can be determined within each department and/or division. Additionally, procedures should be established, where applicable, for providing public access and inspection. Departments and divisions should monitor compliance with village policy and procedures.
(D) File management. Files should periodically be reviewed for possible archiving on other media, such as paper, or possible deletion. Review can be accomplished by scanning directory listings and looking for file creation dates that are old and therefore probably unused and no longer needed on-line; file names that indicate the records are no longer active can be deleted or archived; and large files, which obviously take up a large amount of space, should be considered for archiving.
(Ord. 38-07, passed - -07)