1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: April 9, 2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Kimberley Clark, City Clerk
BY: Melissa Dekermenji, CMC, Records Manager
SUBJECT: Approval of the Updated City of Burbank Records Retention Schedule and Adoption of a Resolution Amending the Citywide Records Retention Schedule for City Records
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK AMENDING THE
CITYWIDE RECORDS RETENTION SCHEDULE FOR CITY RECORDS AS PROVIDED BY SECTION 34090 ET SEQ. OF THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT CODE.
BACKGROUND
In 1971, the City Manager approved Administrative Procedure I -8 which established the City’s first Records Management Program (RMP). The RMP controls utilization, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposition of City of Burbank records. As part of the RMP, the Records Retention Schedule ( RRS) was created to establish the disposition of all City records according to City, County, State, and Federal laws, as well as departmental requirements.
Since the inception of the RMP in 1971, few changes have been made. Amendments for departmental requests to add or delet e a record series were made as the need arose.
Comprehensive revisions to the RRS were approved by Council in 2011, 2019, and 2021.
Best practices require a periodic review of the Retention Schedule to include new technology and mandated record s; remove obsolete records’ series; merge records’ series; incorporate additional or renamed Divisions, and update retention schedules in compliance with City, County, State, and Federal laws.
The purpose of the RMP Is to apply efficient and economical methods to the creation, utilization, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of all records managed by the City.
2 Due to continued steady growth in the volume of records the Burbank Records Center handles within its limited space, City staff selected Gladwell Governmental Services, Inc., an expert in local government records, to update its Retention Schedule. This update was necessary to reduce current and future records storage costs, eliminate duplication of effort, increase efficiency, implement current technology, and comply with changes in the law.
DISCUSSION
The RRS (Attachment 2) guides the Citywide Records Management Program and must be updated regularly to keep up with rapidly progressing technology, current best practices, and changing legislation. Updating the RRS will provide greater efficiency in the City‘s Records Management Program.
An updated Retention Schedule is important as it assists the City in the timely disposal of records that have met their retention, the storage of records that must be retained after they are no longer needed for current operations, the relocation of Departmental records to the Records Center, and the preservation of records which are of historical value. Most importantly, an updated RRS provides the legal basis for the disposition and destruction of departmental records. An RRS ensures that the City retains information for the period it is needed and prevents keeping records for which the information value is less than the storage and maintenance costs.
The current update of the RRS is driven by many factors, including:
• Limited physical space at various City facilities;
• Departments filing and storing copies of the same records; • The production and storage of many permanent records; • Technology advancements; and
• Compliance with changes in legislation.
The City Clerk’s Office revised the Retention Schedule in collaboration with representatives from each Department, which was then approved by the Executive Team, City Clerk, and City Attorney for submittal to Council for approval. The revised Retention Schedule provides clear, specific records descriptions and retention periods, and applies current law, City practices, and technology to the disposition and destruction of the City’s records. The City will immediately realize operational efficiencies by ident ifying which department is responsible for maintaining the original record, reducing duplication, and establishing clear retention periods for the series of records.
As was done in 2019 and 2021, and in keeping with best practices, if this Resolution (Attachment 1) is adopted by Council, the destruction of records will be completed administratively upon obtaining the consent of the Department Director, City Clerk , and City Attorney or their designees. The Department Director, City Clerk, and City Attorney will review all files for destruction and approve the destruction of records by signing the Authority to Destruct Records form. Council’s approval of the RRS is also approval for the destruction of records according to the retention period in the RRS.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Because this activity involves administrative approvals for existing and routine records 3 maintenance, this activity has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. As such, adoption of this resolution is not a “project” subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); see 14 Cal. Code Regs § 15378.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with this item.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends that Council approve and adopt the proposed Resolution amending and updating the City of Burbank Records Retention Schedule.
ATTACHMENT
Attachment 1 - Resolution
Attachment 2 - Redlined Version of Existing Records Retention Schedule