MACDC Intercounty Drain Procedures Training Record Retention and Freedom of Information Act Lizzie Mills Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes PLC February 15, 2017 macdc.us
Summary macdc.us
Record Retention: Proof of the Drainage Board’s Existence & Authority Proof of existance A document retention and disposal schedule helps to prevent and avoid record retention problems. It also identifies the minimum amount of time that records must be retained to satisfy administrative, legal, fiscal and historical needs. A schedule also identifies when documents may be destroyed Each intercounty drainage board determines how it will comply with record retention requirements. Conveying documents to the official record keeper requires a naming system or convention for ease of reference or review in the future. The naming convention also facilitates organized retrieval and retention of the board’s records. A sample naming convention is included as Appendix 3 macdc.us
Record Retention: Appointing a Record Keeper Vital in Functions Generally, public records should be kept as long as they have some value and destroyed when they have no value or purpose. Each member of an intercounty drainage board regularly acquires both paper and electronic records relating to the intercounty drain. Almost anything in board members’ file cabinets, drawers, hard drives, and e-mail inboxes are public records. Those intercounty drain-related records, whether partial or complete, do not belong to an individual board member or office. Rather, they belong to the intercounty drainage board. Knowing who has which records, who should retain those records on behalf of the board and how to accomplish that, can be complicated. Additionally, there can be consequences to the intercounty drainage board for: not retaining a complete record; holding a record too long; or failing to properly or timely destroy records under a properly adopted record retention policy. If a record documents an official board transaction, action, decision, or activity, then it is an official record. Here, the focus is the content, not the format or medium. macdc.us
Record Retention Public Records are maintained so long as they have value It matters very little what Form Location Allow the General Schedule to guide the drainage board Utilize a naming convention for scanning Vital in Functions Generally, public records should be kept as long as they have some value and destroyed when they have no value or purpose. Each member of an intercounty drainage board regularly acquires both paper and electronic records relating to the intercounty drain. Almost anything in board members’ file cabinets, drawers, hard drives, and e-mail inboxes are public records. Those intercounty drain-related records, whether partial or complete, do not belong to an individual board member or office. Rather, they belong to the intercounty drainage board. Knowing who has which records, who should retain those records on behalf of the board and how to accomplish that, can be complicated. Additionally, there can be consequences to the intercounty drainage board for: not retaining a complete record; holding a record too long; or failing to properly or timely destroy records under a properly adopted record retention policy. If a record documents an official board transaction, action, decision, or activity, then it is an official record. Here, the focus is the content, not the format or medium. macdc.us
Shifting Gears to FOIA Similar focus: public records and transparency macdc.us
Procedures and guidelines, public summaries and fees, oh my! To charge fees, the drainage board must adopt Procedures and Guidelines for FOIA requests Public Summary Fee Itemization Form macdc.us
Receiving a FOIA Request Receipt by drainage board member = Receipt by drainage board macdc.us
Role of the FOIA Coordinator Drainage Board Member Request for a copy of minutes FOIA Request Demand for all notes on the latest maintenance project Request for copy of engineering report Response to FOIA Request FOIA COORDINATOR macdc.us
In other words, macdc.us
Form of Request for Records macdc.us
Reviewing a Request/Exemptions macdc.us
Fees and Deposits Provide total cost to requestor Good Faith Estimate Review fees and determine any exemptions Provide total cost to requestor - Deposit? macdc.us
Responding to a Request – Within 5 days macdc.us
Communicate to Requestor Appeals Timeline Appeal Received Communicate to Requestor macdc.us
It All Flows Together… macdc.us
Questions? Lizzie Mills Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes PLC 4151 Okemos Road, Okemos, MI 48864 Email: hmills@fsbrlaw.com Tel: (517)381-0100 Website: www.fsbrlaw.com macdc.us