City of Pleasant Hill Records Retention Policy and Schedule (2024) i
CITY OF PLEASANT HILL
RECORDS RETENTION POLICY
and
SCHEDULE
Policy Adopted by the Pleasant Hill City Council September 17, 2022 by Resolution No. 75- 01 Consolidated Records Retention Policy and Records Retention Schedule Adopted July 18, 2005 by Resolution No. 47-05
Amended September 2006 by Resolution No. 53-06 (City Manager and City Clerk Schedule) Amended February 2008 by Resolution No. 02-08 (Engineering Schedule) Amended __________, 2024 by Resolution No. __-24
City of Pleasant Hill Records Retention Policy and Schedule (2024) ii
Records Retention Policy and Schedule
Table of Contents
Page Number
Part 1 Records Retention Policy 1
Part 2 Records Retention Schedule 8
Abbreviations 9
City Wide 10
Building Division 11
City Attorney 12
City Clerk 13
City Manager 15
Code Enforcement 15
Engineering Division 16
Finance Division 17
Human Resources Division 22
Maintenance Division 25
Planning Division 26
Police Department 28
Administration Division 28
Investigations Division 30
Patrol Division/Traffic 32
Support Services Division 33
City of Pleasant Hill Records Retention Policy and Schedule (2024) 8
Part 1
RECORDS RETENTION POLICY
City of Pleasant Hill Records Retention Policy and Schedule (2024) 9
1. PURPOSE OF THE RECORDS RETENTION POLICY
A written policy for a records retention program provides guidelines to ensure that an agency’s records are maintained in a manner that makes them easily accessible so that records are retained in accordance with federal and state laws, contractual requirements, and regular business practices. The City of Pleasant Hill Records Retention Policy and Schedule (RRPS) serves as a guideline for each City department to maintain its own records, which will ensure permanent availability of vital information, as well as consistent and regular disposal of non-vital records after appropriate lengths of time.
The City’s Records Retention Policy was originally adopted on September 17, 2001 by City Council Resolution No. 75-01. A consolidated Records Retention Policy and Records Retention Schedule was adopted by City Council Resolution No. 47-05 on July 18, 2005, and the City Manager and City Clerk schedules were amended on September 11, 2006 by Resolution No. 53-06. The Engineering schedule was amended on January 14, 2008 by Resolution No. 02-08.
2. RECORDS RETENTION PROGRAM
This document is the policy part of the City’s Records Retention Program. The Records Retention Program provides the following benefits in the economy and efficiency of the City operation:
• Provides certainty that no record is destroyed prematurely and that valuable and legally required records are retained in compliance with legal retention requirements and with standard organizational practices for the retention and destruction of records.
• Enables authorized employees to destroy records no longer of value. • Provides faster and more efficient retrieval of files as a result of the elimination of obsolete records. • Improves productivity through faster access to information. • Cuts costs of filing equipment and office and storage space with the implementation of electronic document storage and elimination of obsolete original records and duplicate records.
3. RECORDS RETENTION SCHEDULE
Under the direction of the department director or division manager, each department should periodically review its own section of the Records Retention Schedule to update it in coordination with the City Clerk (Records Manager) and City Attorney and submit it to the City Council for review and approval. All records shall be maintained at least as long as the legal requirements for particular types of records.
City of Pleasant Hill Records Retention Policy and Schedule (2024) 10
4. ACTIVE AND INACTIVE RECORDS; DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS
Active records are retained within each department to ensure they are readily accessible. Periodically, and at least annually, records within a department shall be reviewed to determine which are no longer active. Inactive records that are obsolete, have reached their adopted retention date, and are no longer required to be kept under the Records Retention Schedule should be submitted via a Records Destruction Certificate to the City Attorney for approval to destroy the records. All other inactive records should be sent to the Records Center, boxed in numbered standard banker’s boxes assigned by the City Clerk, and filed. A Record Transfer Notice should be sent to the City Clerk along with each box sent for storage.
The City Clerk maintains the master index lists for each department and division and administers retrieval and replacement of boxes of records in storage.
Before a record is destroyed, a list of the record, filename, or contents of boxes should be prepared by the department’s designated Records Coordinator (for boxes in storage). The list of records to be destroyed should be shown on the Records Destruction Certificate. The Records Destruction Certificate may include only a list or outline, with the Records Transfer Notice(s). The department’s designated Records Coordinator should verify that what is scheduled for destruction is consistent with the Records Retention Schedule. The list should be sent to the department head and then to the City Attorney, for their written approval of the destruction. The original Records Destruction Certificate should be submitted to the City Records Coordinator and the department files a copy.
The City Records Coordinator maintains a log of all destroyed documents or files removed from the Records Retention Program (records that were sent to the Records Center or entered into the electronic document repository). The destroyed document log will be made available to anyone wishing to review it. The City Records Coordinator also maintains a file of all Records Destruction Certificates for destroyed documents that were not sent the Records Center, but were maintained within the department.
5. NOT APPLICABLE TO DUPLICATES OR NON-RECORDS
This RRPS applies to original records. It does not apply to duplicate copies or to non-records, as defined here.
Duplicate copies and non-records may be destroyed at any time and should be destroyed when original records are destroyed.
Duplicate copy; Reproduction. A record may be considered a duplicate copy only if the original is filed elsewhere in the City government. Examples include documents kept in departments where the original is retained by the City Clerk's Office (i.e. Council meeting agendas and minutes), or the City's Human Resources or Finance Divisions (i.e. payroll or accounts payable records), or duplicates within a department when the original is clearly kept elsewhere in the department.
Any record may be destroyed if it is reproduced or microphotographed strictly in accordance with Government Code section 34090.5.
City of Pleasant Hill Records Retention Policy and Schedule (2024) 11 Non-records. The following are considered non-records and need not be kept or filed:
Blank forms
Drafts, after final copy is completed
Envelopes
Extra copies
Form letters
“FYI” items
Greeting cards
Job announcements
Magazines
Materials for outside clubs or organizations
Newsletters (except The Outlook)
Newspaper clippingsNotices of meetings, retirements, holidays, etc.
Personal files
Post-it notes
Sales, catalogs, brochures, technical manuals, pamphlets, books Shorthand notes
Professional publications
Technical reference files
Transmittal and acknowledgment memos and letters
Hard copy and email working papers and notes
6. FILING GUIDELINES
The goal is to achieve the most efficient use of space while providing the easiest retrieval at the lowest cost.
There are many filing practices that can help the filing function be performed more efficiently and effectively. • Be sure all documents are dated before filing.
• Use cross-reference sheets rather than filing multiple copies in multiple places. • Note the file folder code in the upper right corner of the record to be filed. • If a letter is sent to several people, file one copy with a distribution list rather than multiple copies of the same letter.
• File records chronologically within the folder, with the most current date on the top. • Do not file multiple copies of documents.
• Do not file original documents in working files or working notes in official files. • Documents marked “confidential” should be segregated from non-confidential material. • Do not mix records with different dispositions in one box (i.e. records with permanent retention should not be included in the same box as records with a five-year retention).
City of Pleasant Hill Records Retention Policy and Schedule (2024) 12
7. COMPUTER RECORDS.
Materials stored in computer hard drives and on other electronic devices are also considered records. The same principles of identification, confidentiality and disposition followed for paper records should be practiced for electronic records.
8. WORKING PAPERS.
Working papers and files may be kept by individuals within a department. They should consist only of non-record material. Often, they are incomplete because related files are in official department files. Often the creator of these is the only person who knows how the material is arranged, where it is filed, and what it means. These materials can lead to legal problems if they surface during the discovery phase of litigation.
It is strongly recommended that these files be purged upon completion of a project. Any official records that may have been accidentally placed in a working file should immediately be moved to the proper file in the department’s official files.
9. PUBLIC RECORDS ACT.
The California Public Records Act (Government Code section 6254 and following) provides generally that any record containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used or retained by the City is a public record. Such records must be available to the public for inspection and copying, unless a particular type of record is listed as exempt under the Act. Public records include any writing, map or other document, including those kept electronically. The most common exemptions (which need not be disclosed to the public) include:
• Preliminary drafts, notes or interagency memoranda that are not retained by the City in the ordinary course of business;
• Records pertaining to pending litigation;
• Personnel, medical or similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
• Records of complaints to, or investigations conducted by, or records of intelligence information or security procedures of the police department, or any investigatory files compiled by the city for correctional, law enforcement or licensing purposes (with some exceptions); • Employment examinations;
• Real estate appraisals or engineering or feasibility estimates and evaluations made relative to the acquisition of property or to prospective public contracts; • Information required from taxpayers in connection with the collection of local taxes that is received in confidence;
• Records protected by other state or federal laws.
Questions regarding disclosure of public records should be directed to the City Attorney