Documents in electronic mail format are records as defined by the Ohio Revised Code when their content relates to the business of the office. The City treats e-mail in the same fashion as records in other formats and should follow the same retention schedules.
(a) Records in private e-mail accounts used to conduct public business are subject to disclosure, and all employees or representatives of the City must retain their e-mails that relate to public business (see Section 209.01) and to copy them to their business e-mail accounts and/or to the office's records custodian.
(b) The records custodian is to treat the e-mails from private accounts as records of the City, filing them in the appropriate way, retaining them per established schedules and making them available for inspection and copying in accordance with the Public Records Act.
(Ord. 115-08. Passed 3-20-08.)