Hamilton’s High Tech Filing System
Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST
Hamilton’s High Tech Filing System
By Tammy Duffy
Setting up a good records management program may seem daunting, but our government leaders have responsibilities that are manageable. A little effort in the short term will save an office trouble in the long term. Document accessibility will save government employees the headache of sorting through vast amounts of paperwork, dramatically improving efficiency.
Local town leadership’s involvement with records management began the first day they became a part of the public office or employed for local government.
The law defines public records very broadly. All records must be managed properly. Most records will be destroyed according to established policies and procedures. The small percentage of records deemed to have permanent value need to be deposited at the State Archives. When the policies are not followed, and records are willfully destroyed, criminal prosecution is in order. A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or a fine not exceeding $1,000 in many states.
What is the role of a public official? Whether you were voted into office, appointed by an elected representative, or hired by a government agency, you are responsible for your organization's records. Records must be maintained correctly to facilitate the transparency that the public expects of public office-holders.
State law makes all public officials responsible for making sure that records no longer needed are either offered to the Archives or are destroyed according to procedures that are spelled out in the states regulations.
All Government employees are responsible for records, from elected officials to office clerks. They all need to do our part to preserve the documentary history of Maryland's development.
Transparency of government is only possible through records management. Continuity of records is an integral piece of public officials' responsibility to their constituents. Though it may sound challenging, adhering to good records management practices will be beneficial in the long-term. An office with easy and reliable access to its records will operate efficiently.
During a recent OPRA request I made, I had the opportunity to visit the Hamilton Township Municipal building in Mercer County. I was contacted by the County Clerks office that there were over 800 documents for me to review based on my request.
Upon entering the place where these documents were stored I was stunned at the condition of the room. There was visqueen plastic draped throughout the room clothes pinned to the ceiling. There were puddles of brown water laying within the visqueen. I asked one of the township employees what was the cause of having all this plastic hanging from the ceiling. Their response,” the roof has been leaking for quite some time so we have this up to protect the file cabinets. Last year, I was in the tax office in the municipal building and saw this same dramatic visqueen plastic set up due to the leaking roof.
The room I was in was filled with numerous file cabinets. These file cabinets house important government records. All of the cabinets in this room had this plastic visqueen above them. There were extensive puddles of brown water scattered throughout the visqueen, above the cabinets. Obviously mold growing from the continued wetness. Is this how our government documents should be safeguarded? This is also not an optimal work environment for the employees as well.
Once I finished examining the files in the metal cabinets, I was given numerous old, collapsed boxes to leaf through to evaluate the documents. The boxes are not labeled just stuffed with numerous amounts of paper.
I had also requested to have emails and digital documents in my request. I obtained an email from the County Clerk which stated,
“It is my understanding that the former administration did not archive emails. We will conduct a keyword search for any and all emails and once received, I will advise. Nothing has been saved prior to 2010.”
I am still waiting for a response on this request from the county clerk.
Governments are bound by law to protect all records; which includes emails. which are in their custody. The law defines the roles laid out in the Annotated Code in an effort to protect records considered essential to the continuing operation of government, guarantee the integrity and preservation of permanent records, ensure the legal admissibility of the permanent record, secure the rights and privileges of citizens, assure public access to the records of government, promote agency legal and fiscal accountability, provide a means to document agency administrative history.
The law also further states that a person may not willfully alter, deface, destroy, remove, or conceal a public record except under proper authority. Exploring the regulations makes it clear that records management is important to the management of your government's responsibilities.
The Division and the State Archivist have adopted regulations to define the character of records of archival quality; determine the quantity of those records; set standards for the development of record retention and disposal schedules; and provide for the periodic transfer to the State Archivist or disposal of records, in accordance with the schedules.
Each unit of the government shall have a program for the continual, economical, and efficient management of the records of the unit. The program needs to include procedures to ensure the security of the records; to establish and to revise, in accordance with the regulations, record retention and disposal schedules that ensure the prompt and orderly disposition of records that the unit no longer needs for its operation; and to facilitate compliance the law. One can only imagine if this program exists and if it does how does the leadership ensure its being followed.
In the event government documents are in danger of being destroyed (like what I saw at the Hamilton Municipal Building) alternative solutions must be made to ensure the integrity of the government documents. (i.e. rent equipment, storage space, or services for records, including microfilming or photocopying, and, as appropriate).
The State does not under any circumstances authorize any local government to perform destruction of a permanent book of account; the destruction of a land record of a clerk of a circuit court; the destruction of any record that relates to the financial operation of a unit of the government or to collection of State , the destruction of any record until the expiration of the period that a statute expressly sets for that record to be kept; the destruction of any public record that a statute expressly requires to be kept permanently.
In accordance with the record retention and disposal schedules, a public officials must offer to the Archives any public record of the official that no longer is needed, such as: an original paper; a book; a file; a record of a court of record for which an accurate transcript is in use; or a record that relates to the internal management of or otherwise is a housekeeping record.
Unless a government has received written approval from the State Archivist, a public official may not destroy any public record. If a record is destroyed there will be a record of approval of the destruction and how it was destroyed.
The custodian of records shall, at the expiration of the custodian's term of office, appointment, or employment, deliver custody and control of all records kept or received in the transaction of official business to the custodian's successor, supervisor, or records officer, or to Archives.
Public officials shall notify the Archives of any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records that shall come to the agency's attention. The State Archivist may request the Attorney General to seek appropriate relief.
When nonpermanent records are destroyed in accordance with the terms of an approved schedule, the agency or Records Center shall submit a certificate of records destruction to Archives.
I have asked the township to reveal the certificates of destruction for all the documents that I have requested in my OPRA request. I am awaiting their response. The lack of focus on ensuring the integrity of sacred government documents in the local government of Hamilton is very disturbing.
As the township purchases body cameras for the police force, one can only question whether or not the digital data that is acquired from the cameras will be appropriately managed. If you compare it to how the towns records are managed, they need to slow this purchase down and not waste the taxpayers dollars. How will they ensure the data is secure, archived and managed? This is a very important aspect when any town makes this large investment in these body cameras. Anyone can make the purchase, but if the data is not managed properly then it’s a waste of everyone’s time and money to make the investment.
ADDENDUM TO STORY: APRIL 19,2015
Upon further discussions and follow up with the Mercer County Clerk, who has been in her position for 35 years we learned
Emails just "disappear
All servers just "disappear" when people leave office
No email or digital file was ever saved prior to July 2010, they were all deleted
In the past 35 years there has never been a certification (this properly documents what documents or emails have been deleted or sent to the state archive) done ever in the history of Hamilton township in Mercer County. All certifications come through the County clerk and she has never processed one
The county clerk is well aware of the shenanigans going on with the deletion of files and emails, her own have just disappeared, but nothing has ever been done to rectify the situation or document this behavior is going on.
Posted by tammyduffy
at 10:04 PM EDT
Updated: Saturday, 18 April 2015 7:26 AM EDT
