This evening, I went before the Greensboro City Council to ask that they postpone consideration of a new records retention and disposition policy. Records may have been improperly deleted under the old policy and passing a new policy before the extent of the improper deletions is known would obscure the issue.
Most importantly however, Assistant City Manager Denise Turner, who is currently on maternity leave (congratulations Denise and Mr. Turner), has been working on an update to the city's public records policy and procedures. Her initial efforts, as I've seen them so far, are encouraging and her intention to solicit public comment will be far more productive than tonight's hasty attempt to slide something through on a consent agenda without any public announcement until the quiet inclusion on the agenda four days ago; with no public input; with no copy of the policy made publicly available.
Thank you Mayor Johnson and City Council people for getting this one right. It will pay off in the long run.
For your reference, the Records Retention and Disposition Schedule is available from the source agency:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.records.ncdcr.gov/local/default.htm
Specifically, the document itself (PDF) is:
http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/local/municipal_2009.pdf
Thank you Laura. While I have actually seen that, what the city has not made clear to the public is if that is the policy it intends to adopt.
ReplyDelete