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Public Information & Record Retention City Secretary Lee Woodward Deputy City Sec. Kristin Edwards

Public Information & Record Retention City Secretary Lee Woodward Deputy City Sec. Kristin Edwards. Texas Public Information Act. Overseen by the Texas Attorney General “The Act is triggered when a person submits a written request to a governmental body.” (paper, mail, fax, email accepted)

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Public Information & Record Retention City Secretary Lee Woodward Deputy City Sec. Kristin Edwards

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  1. Public Information & Record RetentionCity Secretary Lee WoodwardDeputy City Sec. Kristin Edwards

  2. Texas Public Information Act • Overseen by the Texas Attorney General • “The Act is triggered when a person submits a written request to a governmental body.” (paper, mail, fax, email accepted) • All requestors must be treated equally • “An officer for public information of a governmental body shall promptly produce public information for inspection, duplication, or both on application by any person to the officer. In this subsection, “promptly” means as soon as possible under the circumstances, that is, within a reasonable time, without delay.” • The City may not ask why the information is desired, and should not presume to know

  3. Overall difficulty to complete request - FY10-11

  4. Length of time to fulfill requests – FY10-11(in business days)

  5. What affects length of time to fulfill? • Difficulty of request/amount of responsive material in City’s possession • Access to documents (in Records Room vs. on computer drive or in Laserfiche) • Compilation & review of documents • Staff out of office/not emailed because City doesn’t know where additional material is maintained

  6. Amount of material reviewed and/or released***Worked from back estimates for FY10-11; FY11-12 will be kept as handled

  7. Top 10 most frequent requestors for FY10-11

  8. Revenue potential • DVD requests going forward should be filled by Swagit, at no cost to City • Council meeting video, agendas, powerpoints, & minutes archived on web by eGov • Laserfiche in City Sec. & Muni. Court now. Continued implementation will allow for faster search & less handling, printing, & distribution of paper documents • May set threshold above which charges are imposed

  9. OAG says: • $0.10/page for copies - $1 per basic disc – other charges for maps, oversize, other discs, etc. (d) Labor charge for locating, compiling, manipulating data, and reproducing public information. •   (1) The charge for labor costs incurred in processing a request for public information is $15 an hour. The labor charge includes the actual time to locate, compile, manipulate data, and reproduce the requested information. •   (2) A labor charge shall not be billed in connection with complying with requests that are for 50 or fewer pages of paper records, unless the documents to be copied are located in: •     (A) Two or more separate buildings that are not physically connected with each other; or •     (B) A remote storage facility. •   (3) A labor charge shall not be recovered for any time spent by an attorney, legal assistant, or any other person who reviews the requested information: •     (A) To determine whether the governmental body will raise any exceptions to disclosure of the requested information under the Texas Government Code, Subchapter C, Chapter 552; or •   (B) To research or prepare a request for a ruling by the attorney general's office pursuant to §552.301 of the Texas Government Code. •   (4) When confidential information pursuant to a mandatory exception of the Act is mixed with public information in the same page, a labor charge may be recovered for time spent to redact, blackout, or otherwise obscure confidential information in order to release the public information. A labor charge shall not be made for redacting confidential information for requests of 50 or fewer pages, unless the request also qualifies for a labor charge pursuant to Texas Government Code, §552.261(a)(1) or (2). • AG web site shows State of Texas entities collected $1.8 million in charges for FY10-11, just over $1mil. coming from Railroad Commission – shows $2,284.78 from SHSU and about $4,000 from Texas A&M, College Station branch – what did it cost to track & collect it?

  10. Guesstimate based on averages • 219 x 5 x $0.10 = $109.50 • 55 x 25 x $0.10 = $137.50 • 21 x 50 x $0.10 = $105.00 • 11 x 500 x $0.10 = $550.00 • 1 x 2500 x $0.10 = $250.00 • Potential seems to be, verrry roughly,$1152.00 • 25% of FY10-11 requests were Pressman/Fa’anunu, usually 3-4 pages apiece, emailed to them • Only 10.54% of all requests produced over 50 pages

  11. Considerations • Not estimated in last slide is labor (for items over 50 pages, 10.54% of FY10-11 requests), maps or plats, CDs, DVDs • Where would the threshold be above which the City would charge? • How much would City spend to collect an avg. $50 expense?

  12. How much time does all this take? • Not currently tracked • If tracked for one request, must be tracked for all – all requestors must be treated equally • Can set threshold above which time is tracked

  13. “The Act is triggered when a person submits a written request to a governmental body.” Can the City give out information and documents without a written request? Yes. The guidelines of the Public Information Act are not triggered. There is no time limit or reason to write the AG for an opinion without a written request. There is no framework for charging for the request, and limited scope for redacting or withholding information.

  14. Is it getting better?The City Secretary believes so • Laserfiche, Postini, eGov, material in drive enable faster searches and more responses by electronic means • Greater level of community trust in transparency

  15. Record Retention Updates • Changes from Texas Legislature & recommendations of Texas State Library • Review by all City Departments • Retention schedule adopted by Resolution in 1990s

  16. Commitment to history vs. convenience “Council meetings have a special place of historic value because these are the public’s representatives…”

  17. Questions • Should City retain Council audio & video longer than TSL recommendations? • If so, should City consider or require updating valid format types over time? • If not, should donation be an option to destruction?

  18. City Council MeetingRegular Session October 18, 2011

  19. City Council Meeting – October 18, 2011 WORKSHOP SESSION [5:00PM] – Council will discuss Public Information Requests and Records Retention with the City Secretary. [Lee Woodward, City Secretary]

  20. City Council Meeting – October 18, 2011 REGULAR SESSION [6:00pm] 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. INVOCATION AND PLEDGES U.S. Flag Texas Flag: Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. • PUBLIC COMMENT a. Related to any matter not on the agenda – 2 minutes per speaker b. Related to any matter on the agenda – 5 minutes per speaker

  21. City Council Meeting – October 18, 2011 4. CONSENT AGENDA (Approval of Consent Agenda authorizes the City Manager to implement each item in accordance with staff recommendations. An item may be removed from the Consent Agenda and added to the Statutory Agenda for full discussion by request of a member of Council.) • Approve the minutes of the City Council Regular Session held on October 4, 2011. [Lee Woodward, City Secretary] • Approve Ordinance 2012-03, the proposed annexation of 72.09 acres (two tracts), 2nd reading. [Aron Kulhavy, Director of Public Works]: Tract No. 1 being 24.04 acres, more or less, situated in the WARREN BIRDSELLLEAGUE, A-6, Walker County, Texas, and being out of and a part of the called 71-acre "Second Tract” conveyed by J. H. Thomason and wife, Marguerite E. Thomason, and Mabel S. Eastham to Horace Smith and wife, Alverta Smith, by deed dated March 22, 1940, recorded in Volume 94, Page 190, Walker County Deed Records. Tract No. 2 being 48.05 acres, more or less, situated in the WARREN BIRDSELL LEAGUE, A-6, Walker County, Texas, and being out of and a part of a called 219-acre "First Tract" and a called 71-acre "Second Tract", conveyed by J. H. Thomason and wife, Marguerite E. Thomason, and Mabel S. Eastham to Horace Smith and wife, Alverta Smith, by deed dated March 22, 1940, recorded in Volume 94, Page 190, Walker County Deed Records.

  22. City Council Meeting – October 18, 2011 4. CONSENT AGENDA (Approval of Consent Agenda authorizes the City Manager to implement each item in accordance with staff recommendations. An item may be removed from the Consent Agenda and added to the Statutory Agenda for full discussion by request of a member of Council.) c. Ratification of the City Manager’s approval of Task Order #8 to Klotz & Associates for the design, bidding, and construction phase services for a new water supply well in the amount of $112,103.00. [Carol Reed, Director of Public Utilities] d. Consider the award of contract to purchase various chemicals used at the City’s water and wastewater plants. [Billie Smith, Procurement Manager]

  23. City Council Meeting – October 18, 2011 5. MAYOR/CITY COUNCIL AND CITY MANAGER REPORT • Possible action to approve nomination of Dr. Sherry McKibben as City Representative to the H-GAC Sustainability Consortium. [Mayor Turner] • Possible action to approve Resolution 2012-02 stating Council support for the Economic Development Ad Hoc Committee to develop an Ordinance for a Community Enterprise Board and organization. [Mayor Turner] • Discussionof economic development zones and projects, past and future. [Councilmember Wagamon] • Possible action to approve new contract for City Manager Bill Baine. [Mayor Turner] e. City Manager’s Report 1. Updates on City construction, grants, studies, City projects, City purchases, and economic development.

  24. City Council Meeting – October 18, 2011 6.PUBLIC COMMENT a. Related to any matter not on the agenda – 2 minutes per speaker 7. MEDIA INQUIRIES RELATED TO MATTERS ON THE AGENDA 8. ITEMS OF COMMUNITY INTEREST (Hear announcements concerning items of community interest from the Mayor, Councilmembers, and City staff for which no action will be discussed or taken.) a. The Music in the Park free live music series will continue October 27 from 6-8pm at parks around town through November 17, call 936-291- 9726 or check the City website for more information.

  25. City Council Meeting – October 18, 2011 9. EXECUTIVE SESSION City Council will convene in closed session as authorized by Texas Government Code, Chapter 551, Section 551.074 - personnel matters regarding the evaluation of City Manager Bill Baine. [Mayor Turner] 10. RECONVENE a. Take action on Executive Session item, as needed. 11. ADJOURNMENT

  26. The City Council is currently in Executive Session and will reconvene before adjourning.

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