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CC - Approval of a Resolution Adopting the Records Retention Schedule for the City of Culver City.
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Meeting Date: August 14, 2017
Contact Person/Dept: Jeremy Green, City Clerk
Phone Number: (310 253-5851
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [] Attachments: [X]
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X] Date:
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (08/09/17);
Department Approval: Serena Wright, Director of Administrative Services (05/23/17)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council adopt a resolution adopting a Records Retention Schedule for the City of Culver City.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
In 1999, Section 12236 was added to the California Government Code, which states in Section 12236 (a) “The Secretary of State shall establish the Local Government Records Program to be administered by the State Archives to establish guidelines for local government retention and to provide archival support to local agencies in this state.” The guidelines were an initial attempt to provide some standards and structure to the local government records management effort. The State retention guidelines were most recently updated in 2006. The City of Culver City has followed the guidelines and required that all additional requests for document destruction, not included in the statewide guidelines, be brought to City Council for approval as well.
In an effort to reduce current and future records storage costs, eliminate duplication of effort, increase efficiency and take advantage of current technology and changes in law, City Clerk staff selected the expert records management company Gladwell Governmental Services, Inc. to review department needs and create a schedule for records retention.
The decision to create a Culver City specific records retentions schedule was driven by many factors, including:
• Very limited space in City facilities, with some departments using outside storage
• The growing number of permanent records required to be kept
• Escalating records storage expenses
• Technology advancements
• Changes in law
The records retention schedule will apply efficient and economical methods to the creation, utilization, maintenance, retention, preservation and disposal of all records managed by the City.
The retention periods are in compliance with applicable laws and are standard business practice for California cities. Each of the departmental schedules was written interactively with representatives from each department. The schedules provide clear, specific records descriptions and retention periods, and apply current law and technology to the management of Culver City’s records. By identifying which department is responsible for maintaining the original record, and by establishing clear retention periods for different categories of records, Culver City should realize significant savings in labor costs and storage costs, the freeing up of filing cabinet and office space, and operational efficiencies.
As per Section 2 of the resolution, it is proposed that the routine destruction of records that have exceeded their adopted retention period will be allowed, upon the request of the Department Head and with the consent in writing of the City Clerk and City Attorney.
Typically, California cities authorize updates to the schedule without further action of the City Council. However, it is proposed that the Culver City Schedule be more conservative, authorizing only minor updates. Section 3 of the resolution states, “Minor updates include changes in Department or Division names, improvements in records descriptions (i.e. categories/types of records), changes in comments, deletion of records descriptions that are no longer applicable, changes to the types of records that may be retained in other forms of media (i.e. scanned), and/or changes to the Active and Inactive retention periods, provided the Total Retention period does not change. Changes in the Total Retention and/or adding new records descriptions must be presented to the City Council for approval prior to taking effect.”
The Records Retention Schedule will be reviewed on an annual basis by staff and brought back to City Council to be updated when necessary.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
Culver City should realize significant savings both in labor and storage expenses; including the avoidance of future storage and/or construction costs.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Proposed Resolution
MOTION
That the City Council:
Adopt a resolution adopting a Records Retention Schedule for the City of Culver City.