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Rules, Policy and Industrial Relations Committee/Committee of the Whole Meeting of September 12, 2008

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BOX 9000, PRESIDIO STATION Š SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94129-0601

Agenda Item No. 2

To:

Rules, Policy and Industrial Relations Committee/Committee of the Whole

Meeting of September 12, 2008

From:

Bob Haar, Director of Information Systems

Celia G. Kupersmith, General Manager

Subject:

APPROVE RECORD RETENTION PROGRAM FOR EMAIL

COMMUNICATIONS

Recommendation

The Rules, Policy, and Industrial Relations Committee recommends that the Board of Directors

approve adoption of the Record Retention Program for Email Communications as described in

Attachment 1; and that the Board authorize the General Manager, or her designee, to administer

the Record Retention Program for Email Communications in accordance with the retention

periods designated in Attachment 1, with the understanding that the General Manager, in

consultation with the Attorney, may revise such retention periods and authorize destruction of

records to comport with applicable law and the Secretary of State’s Local Government Records

Management Guidelines, as they may be amended from time to time.

Background

State law permits the District to destroy or dispose of records that are not expressly required by

law to be preserved, if the governing board authorizes such destruction or disposition. State law

also allows the Board to adopt a record retention schedule that authorizes the destruction of a

particular category of records, provided that the Board first adopt a resolution finding that the

destruction of this category of records will not adversely affect any interest of the District or of

the public.

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Rules, Policy and Industrial Relations Committee

Agenda item No. 2

Meeting of September 12, 2008

Page 2

Emails typically are used for informal and short-term communication, to convey transitory

information of no lasting value to the District. Accordingly, under the proposed Record

Retention Program for Email Communications, emails will ordinarily only be retained for 90

days, after which the computer system will be programmed to discard them. Emails with more

lasting significance will be preserved for two years by transferring them to an archive folder, and

then will be subject to automatic disposal. For emails where retention is required beyond two

years, the District’s Information Systems Department will create special archive folders that will

be retained indefinitely. Generally the categories for these files are email communications that

relate to pending litigation, pending Public Records Act requests, pending construction projects,

or other records that are deemed appropriate and necessary to be preserved until no longer

needed. The determination of when the record may be disposed of will be made on a

case-by-case basis, in consultation with the District Secretary and Attorney, and requires the approval of

the General Manager or designee.

The General Manager and the Director of Information Systems will develop procedures to

implement this program, as well as provide training for all users of the District’s email system.

It is anticipated that a comprehensive record retention policy to address all records of the District

will be developed in the near future, and will be coordinated with this policy.

Fiscal Impact

While no immediate fiscal impact is associated with this program, it is anticipated that this will

allow the District to reduce expenses related to email management and email server/backup costs

in the future. It is also anticipated that the program will promote more efficient use of the

District’s email system by controlling the proliferation of emails.

Attachments:

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G

OLDEN

G

ATE

B

RIDGE

,

H

IGHWAY AND

T

RANSPORTATION

D

ISTRICT

R

ECORD

R

ETENTION

P

ROGRAM

FOR

E

MAIL

C

OMMUNICATIONS

This document constitutes the record retention program for email records (“Program”) of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (“District”). The Program was authorized by the District’s Board of Directors on __________________ by Resolution ___. The provisions of the Program apply to all District employees, contractors and officers (“District Personnel”) who send, receive or otherwise utilize Email Communications pertaining to the conduct of the District’s business through use of the District’s email system.

The purpose of this Program is to more effectively and efficiently manage email communication storage at the District and thus to reduce expenses related to email management and email server/backup capacity. This Program will be coordinated with the District’s comprehensive record retention Program which is currently being developed.

This Program was developed in consultation with the District’s Attorney and Director of

Information Systems, and complies with the record retention requirements applicable to special districts set forth in Government Code section 60201(b)(1). In the event that this law changes, revisions to this policy may be required.

A. D

EFINITIONS

Email Communications: Communications (messages) sent or received by District personnel on the District’s email system (currently Microsoft Outlook and Exchange) regarding business of the District.

District personnel: Employees and officers of the District.

Program: The District’s records retention program for Email Communications.

Transitory email: Email communications conveying informal and short-term information of a transitory nature which has no lasting value to the District. Emails in Inbox and Sent Items folders which are not moved to an Archive email folder within 90 days are presumed to be transitory emails.

Archive 2-Year email folder: An email folder in the email program of all District personnel which should be used to retain emails which pertain to ongoing projects or business and have value to the District beyond the 90-day retention period used for standard transitory emails.

Archive Indefinite email folder: An email folder in the email program of designated District personnel which have emails which must be retained indefinitely, and potentially longer than 2 years. District Information Systems staff will create Archive Indefinite email folders as needed. Designated Record Keeper: Individual District employee assigned the task of retaining emails applicable to a particular project. The Designated Record Keeper should keep applicable email

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records in their Archive Indefinite folder, and confer with the Project Manager, District Secretary and District Attorney before destroying these emails.

B. P

URPOSE OF EMAIL

District personnel should use Email Communications as a medium for informal and short-term communications, akin to verbal communications. Email Communications should generally convey transitory information which has no lasting value to the District. Where an email possesses more lasting significance, or it falls within one of the categories requiring a longer retention period summarized in Section D below, District personnel should preserve the email record for a longer period by transferring it to an email Archive folder or printing a hard copy. Email should not be used to create important or lasting official records of the District. Where official records are required to satisfy a particular purpose or retention period, such as

resolutions, ordinances, internal policies, official correspondence, contracts, personnel

documents, etc., a form other than email should be used (such as hard copy or other permanent unalterable form of recording).

C

. E

MAIL

R

ECORD

R

ETENTION

R

EQUIREMENTS

Emails in Inbox, Sent Items and Deleted Items folders will be managed by the District’s Information Systems staff through an automated process, as described in more detail below.

EMAIL CATEGORY RETENTION PERIOD METHOD OF DESTRUCTION

Transitory emails in Deleted Items folder

Destroyed 7 days after the email enter the Deleted Items folder

Automated destruction by the District’s Information Systems Department

Transitory emails in Inbox and Sent Items folder

Destroyed 90 days after the receipt or sending of the email

Automated destruction by the District’s Information Systems Department

Emails in “Archive 2-Year”

folder Destroyed 2 years after the receipt or sending of the email Automated destruction by the District’s Information Systems Department

Emails in the “Archive

Indefinite” folder Destroyed after the applicable retention period passes Email user or Designated Record Keeper, as the case may be, determines when the applicable retention period has passed, and confirms with District Attorney and Secretary before destruction

In conjunction with new email software obtained by the District, the District will be implementing “managed folders” to better manage Email Communications, storage and related costs. In

addition to folders that District Personnel can currently create in Outlook, District Personnel will each have an “Archive 2-Year” folder in their Outlook program that should be used for the

retention of emails of greater significance than simply transitory communication. More

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Items folder, each email user is responsible for moving them to the Archive 2-years folder. These emails will be retained for 2 years and then deleted automatically by District Information

Systems staff.

Where applicable, District Information Systems staff will also create an Archive Indefinite folder for individual email users for emails which require retention for an indefinite period potentially beyond 2 years. The “Archive Indefinite” folder should be used for emails which fall into one of the 4 categories listed in Section D below. District Information Systems staff will assist with managing the Archive Indefinite folder by consulting with individual email users when the folders exceed a certain size and may require deletion of emails. In addition, limits on the size of

mailboxes may also be imposed in the future as necessary, and as approved by the Attorney. For large and/or ongoing projects, the District encourages the appointment of a Designated Record Keeper to perform the task of retaining email records in their own Archive Indefinite folder so that these emails can be located in one location, and so that others working on the project do not need to retain duplicate emails.

D. E

MAIL

C

OMMUNICATIONS

S

UBJECT TO

I

NDEFINITE

R

ETENTION

The following categories of Email Communications may not be destroyed until such time as they no longer fall within the category. Emails that fall within any of these categories should be moved to Archive Indefinite folder.

1. Pending Claims / Pending Litigation / Settlement within 2 Years: Email Communications which relate to pending claims, pending litigation, or the settlement or disposition of litigation within the previous two years must be retained for 5 years after resolution of the matter.

As necessary, the Attorney will coordinate with the Director of Information Systems to implement “litigation holds” to retain all affected Email Communications for the required period.

2. Pending Public Records Act request: Email Communications which are the subject of any pending request for records pursuant to the California Public Records Act (“PRA”). For purposes of this Program, a pending PRA request is one to which the District has not yet responded.

As necessary, the District Secretary will coordinate with the Director of Information Systems to implement “PRA holds” to retain all affected Email Communications for the required period.

3. Pending Construction: Email Communications which relate to any pending construction project. For purposes of this Program, a pending construction project is one which has not been completed and accepted by the District. Once a construction project is

completed, these Email Communications will be retained for 2 years.

For all pending District construction projects, the District Engineer will coordinate

“construction holds” to retain all affected Email Communications for the required period. 4. Ongoing Projects / Other Records. Other Email Communications may be retained in the

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E. D

UPLICATES

M

AY

B

E

D

ESTROYED AT ANY

T

IME

Duplicate Email Communications may be destroyed at any time, provided that at least one version of that Email Communication is retained somewhere for the applicable retention period. For instance, where an Email Communication is received by multiple District Personnel, only a single version of the email need be retained and all other versions may be deleted. Where one has been appointed, the Designated Record Keeper is responsible to retain the Email

Communication for the applicable retention period.

F. F

UTURE ADDITIONS TO THE

D

ISTRICT

S RECORD RETENTION PROGRAM

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1584226.1

GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE, HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT

RESOLUTION NO. 2008-XXX

APPROVE RECORD RETENTION PROGRAM

FOR DISTRICT EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS

September

12,

2008

WHEREAS, the District’s General Manager desires to establish a record retention

program for email communications of the District, based on retention periods developed by staff

in conjunction with the Attorney and based on the requirements of Government Code section

60200 et seq.; now therefore, be it

RESOLVED that the Board of Directors (Board) finds that the majority of District email

communications convey informal and short-term information of a transitory nature which has no

lasting value to the District; and be it further

RESOLVED that the Board finds that District’s proposed Records Retention Program

for Email Communications (Program) establishes appropriate retention periods for different

categories of email communications, based both on statutory requirements and the relative value

different email communications have for the District’s operations; and be it further

RESOLVED that the Board finds that the destruction of the email communications in

conjunction with the District’s proposed Records Retention Program for Email Communications

(Program), will not adversely affect any interest of the District or of the public; and be it further

RESOLVED that the Board of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation

District hereby authorizes the creation of a Record Retention Program for Email

Communications as described in Attachment A; and be it further

RESOLVED that the Board authorizes the General Manager to implement the Record

Retention Program for Email Communications, in conjunction with Information Systems staff,

using the retention periods established by staff in consultation with the Attorney; and be it

further

RESOLVED that the General Manager may update the Record Retention Program for

Email Communications in conjunction with the Attorney, as necessary from time to time to

comport with changes in the law.

ADOPTED 12

th

day of September, 2008 by the following vote of the Board of Directors:

AYES ( ):

NOES ( ):

ABSENT ( ):

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1584226.1

6

________________________________

President of the Board of Directors

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