(a) Definition of E-mail as Public Records. Documents in electronic mail format are records as defined by the Ohio Revised Code when their content relates to the business of the office. E-mail is to be treated in the same fashion as records in other formats and should follow the same retention schedules.
(b) Private E-mail Accounts Holding Public Records. Records in private e-mail accounts used to conduct public business are subject to disclosure, and all employees or representatives of this Office are instructed to retain their e-mails that relate to public business (see Section 214.02) and to copy them to their business e-mail accounts and/or to the Office's public records custodian.
(c) Duties of the Public Records Custodian in Managing Private Account E-mails. The public records custodian is to treat the e-mails from private accounts as records of the public office, 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. 68-2009. Passed 7-13-09.)