(A) Generally. All documents, papers, letters, books, maps, photographs, sound or video recordings, microfilm, magnetic tape, electronic media, or other information recording media, regardless of physical form or characteristic and regardless of whether public access to it, is open or restricted under the laws of the state, created, or received by the city or any of its officers or employees, pursuant to law or in the transaction of public business, are hereby declared to be the records of the city and shall be created, maintained, and disposed of in acordance with the provisions of this subchapter or procedures authorized by it and in no other manner.
(B) Specifics. For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
(1) DEPARTMENT HEAD. The officer who by ordinance, order, or administrative policy is in charge of an office of the city that creates or receives records.
(2) ESSENTIAL RECORD. Any record of the city necessary to the resumption or continuation of operations of the city in an emergency or disaster, to the recreation of the legal and financial status of the city, or to the protection and fulfillment of obligations to the people of the state.
(3) PERMANENT RECORD. Any record of the city for which the retention period on a records control schedule is given as permanent.
(4) RECORDS CONTROL SCHEDULE. A document prepared by or under the authority of the Records Management Officer listing the records maintained by the city, their retention periods, and other records disposition information that the records management program may require.
(6) RECORDS MANAGEMENT. The application of management techniques to the creation, use, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of records for the purposes of reducing the costs and improving the efficiency of recordkeeping. The term includes the development of records control schedules, the management of filing and information retrieval systems, the protection of essential and permanent records, the economical and space-effective storage of inactive records, control over the creation and distribution of forms, reports, and correspondence, and the management of micrographics and electronic and other records storage systems.
(9) RETENTION PERIOD. The minimum time that must pass after the creation, recording, or receipt of a record, or the fulfillment of certain actions associated with a record, before it is eligible for destruction.
(Ord. 15-90, passed 11-12-1990)