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Reply to:
Cathedral City Office
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NO CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
STAFF REPORT
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October 28, 2009
TO: HON. MAYOR/ CHAIRPERSON KATHLEEN J. DE ROSA
MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIUREDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD
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FROM: CHARLES GREEN, CITY ATTORNEY
PAT HAMMERS, CITY CLERK
RE: RECORDS RETENTION SCHEDULE UPDATE
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RECOMMENDATION
That the City Council/Redevelopment Agency Board adopt Resolutions and
116 updating the City's and Redevelopment Agency's Records Retention Schedules.
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BACKGROUND
The California Public Records Act' details which records in the City's custody are
available to the public for inspection. The general rule is that all records are available to
the public unless specifically excluded by statute. The Secretary of State's office has
published guidelines to assist local governmental agencies in establishing appropriate
records retention schedules which comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
0 1 Government Code § 6250 et. seq.
Records Retention Schedule Update
0 STAFF REPORT Page 1 of 2
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For a number of years the City has maintained a thorough Records Retention
Schedule (the "Schedule"), approved by the Council, which establishes mandatory
guidelines with respect to the destruction of records. The Schedule relies in great measure
on the Secretary of State's published guidelines, but also includes references to numerous 4
other State and Federal laws and regulations, as well as various City policies. Use of the f
Schedule allows the City to be consistent in its records maintenance, as well as to avoid
the risk of potential litigation associated with haphazard record keeping and destruction
policies, as experienced in some other jurisdictions. Procedures have been implemented 4
requiring the applicable Department Head,the City Clerk, and the City Attorney to sign off �
on any records destruction request prior to actual destruction.
Due to periodic changes in the law, it is necessary to occasionally update the
Schedule. The last time the City updated the Schedule was March, 2007. A thorough 1
review has been conducted which double-checked all statutory and other references for
accuracy. As expected, there were only minimal revisions to applicable laws and
regulations over the past two years, all of which have been incorporated. The new
Schedule also has been significantly revised to provide for easier use and understanding, I
as well as to reconcile several internal inconsistencies which were identified. For example,
in instances where the Secretary of State's guidelines exceed statutory retention periods,
the longer retention periods have been incorporated in an abundance of caution.
The attached chart details the major changes made in this latest Schedule revision.
It is anticipated that the Schedule will come up again for review in approximately October,
2011.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct fiscal impact arising from action on this proposed Resolution.
ATTACHMENTS:
Chart Detailing Revisions
Resolutions
Revised Records Retention Schedules
P:\APPS\WPDATA\CATH\0001\DOC\2744-Records Retention Schedule Update SR(10.28.09).doc
Records Retention Schedule Update
STAFF REPORT Page 2 of 2
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