HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-30-2006 QuestionsPage 1 of 3
Andrea Lorenzo-luaces
From: Golding, Elisabeth [EGolding@dos. state. fl.us]
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 8:14 AM
To: Andrea Lorenzo-luaces
Cc: Jenks, David
Subject: RE: Questions
Ms. Lucas:
Responses to your questions are below, under each question. I hope this provides the information you need.
Please let me know if you need additional assistance. You can also e-mail us at any time with records
management questions at our Records Management Mailbox at recmgt@dos,_state.fl.us
Sincerely,
Beth Golding
State Library and Archives of Florida
Records Management Program
egoldingAldos state. fl.us
-----Original Message -----
From: Andrea Lorenzo-luaces[mailto:aluaces@winterspringsfl.org]
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 3:06 PM
To: Golding, Elisabeth; Jenks, David
Subject: Questions
Importance: High
Our City has 3 inquiries:
1. Should Websites that are backed -up, be saved for a certain period of time? They should
be another type of City record.
We have not defined Web sites as "records" or established a retention period for them. In
function and purpose they are more like publications that records — packaged information
widely disseminated for public information/education/use. However, if your city
determines that Web sites are records for its purposes, you can either use any existing
retention schedules that accurately reflect the content of the Web site, or you can submit
an individual retention schedule to us for review and approval.
2. Are "Transitory" emails considered to be similar to other types of "Transitory" records,
and kept OSA or less?
Transitory messages carry an OSA retention regardless of their physical form or means of
transmission — whether that record exists in the form of paper, or microfilm, or a Word file,
or an e-mail message, are any other form.
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2A. What if someone emails someone else at work to go to lunch — definitely a
"Transitory" record. And they get a response within 1 hour. Both parties then
delete/double delete their email and email response. Should those messages have been
saved.
This is a purely personal message and is not a public record — it is not "made or received
pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by
any agency" (Florida Public Records Law, s. 119.011(11), F.S.).
213 On a similar note, if someone types up a document, then after they read it, they decide
they will call someone regarding the issue they previous typed up, should this "document"
have been saved? Or perhaps a Disposition of OSA should be done?
This will depend on the function and purpose of the document. If it is simply a draft and is
not circulated or shown to anyone for review, it can be classified under "Drafts and
Working Papers" (GS1-L, #242) with an OSA retention. If it is retained and then later used
for some other purpose, it might then fall under another retention schedule.
However, in other cases, the document might be part of another series and need to be
retained — for instance, if it is a supervisor documenting policy violations of an employee,
and the supervisor puts a "memo to file" into his/her file on the employee and then
decides to call the personnel director about the problem. In this case, the supervisor
would want to retain that documentation.
So, the answer to this question really depends on the content, nature, purpose, and use of
the document.
3 Our City is working with Laserfiche to scan/keep our documents. So for the purpose of
this example, we have Resolutions, Ordinances, Agenda Items, Minutes, and Purchase
Orders scanned/kept on file. These are our Record Copy. One of our Departments wants to
keep a "Project" file (in electronic form) which would include various electronic copies of
Resolutions, Ordinances, Agenda Items, Minutes, and Purchase Orders, which are
applicable to their particular project. All of those are considered permanent or historical,
except for the purchase order which have a definite retention period. So there isn't too
much of a problem with them keeping duplicates of everything but the Purchase Orders,
however, there could be a problem with the original Purchase Orders (of which they now
have duplicates), when it comes to the time for the Purchase Orders to be disposed of. We
are not sure we can guarantee that this other department will also destroy their duplicates in
their "Project" file.
Regarding this same question 3. — we don't really want to let one Department start making
duplicates, because then everyone will also want to make the own duplicates (paper
and/or electronic), and then we will have a problem with too many copies everywhere, so
would you have any advice for us, perhaps what other municipalities have done regarding
this matter.
This is really an internal procedural matter — who in your agency is allowed to have
duplicates of which records, and when they should dispose of those duplicates. You
could establish a formal, written records management policy for your city or agency which
would include this type of information, and designate records officers in each department
or office to ensure adherence to the policy. You might also want to check with the Florida
League of Cities to see if any other municipalities have the same concerns and if any have
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developed a solution that might work for you.
You emailed response would be very appreciated!
Thank you,
Awn reaLorenzo-Li+ace5, 6746
City Clerk
City of Winter Springs
1126 East State Road 434
WinterSpring5, Florida 32708
Telephone: (407) 327-5955
Facsimile: (407) 327-4753
email: aluaCC50Winter5pring5O.orq
1/30/2006