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MUNICIPALITY OF THE DISTRICT OF YARMOUTH
Records Management Policy
R-853-16
Effective Date:
Aug 24, 2016
Records Management Policy
Page 1
Part 1
Purpose:
The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines for the effective management and
control of all records belonging to the Municipality of Yarmouth in a consistent and
functional manner. (As per Section 34 of the Municipal Government Act)
Part 2
Definitions:
2. 1
CAO - Chief Administrative Officer of the Municipality of Yarmouth;
2. 2
Designated officer - CAO or delegate, having authority to approve the
disposition of records;
2. 3
Disposition - the manner in which a record is ultimately dealt with, whether that
is archived or destroyed;
2. 4
MGA - Municipal Government Act;
2. 5
Municipality - The Municipality of the District of Yarmouth;
2. 6
Record - Record includes books, documents, maps, drawings, photographs,
letters, vouchers, papers and any other thing on which information is recorded or
stored by graphic, electronic, mechanical or other means, but does not include a
computer program or any other mechanism that produces records;
2. 7
Records Retention Schedule - prescribes the period of time that records are
kept to meet the operational, legal, regulatory, financial or other requirements of
the Municipality. The Records Retention Schedule also provides instructions as
to the manner and time of the disposition of a record.
Part 3
All records in the custody and control of the employees and Council of the Municipality
are the property of the Municipality of Yarmouth. All records of the Municipality of
Yarmouth must comply with the Records Management system and this policy. All
employees and management and council of the Municipality must comply with this
policy.
Part 4
It is the policy of the Municipality of Yarmouth to identify and preserve information
resources that serve to reconstruct the evolution of policy and program decisions or
MUNICIPALITY OF THE DISTRICT OF YARMOUTH
Records Management Policy
R-853-16
Effective Date:
Aug 24, 2016
Records Management Policy
Page 2
have archival value. The Municipality shall ensure that such information is organized in
a manner to be readily available for the study of decision making in the Municipality and
other research purposes which help explain the historical role of the Municipality.
Part 5
The purpose of this Policy is to establish effective management, control and
administration over the disposition of all information, regardless of format, and to do so
in a manner that is user-friendly and tailored to meet user needs in accordance with
good management practices and to provide municipal administration with clear and
concise direction as to the destruction of municipal records based on a retention
schedule.
Part 6
It is the policy of the Municipality of Yarmouth to create, classify, maintain, access,
retrieve, store, destroy and preserve information resources throughout their life cycle
according to the standards and procedures prescribed under the Association of
Municipal Administrators Records Management Manual.
Part 7
It is the policy of the Municipality of Yarmouth to manage information resources as a
valuable Government asset for the purposes of:
7.1
supporting effective decision making;
7.2
meeting operational requirements;
7.3
ensuring the widest possible use of information resources within the Municipality;
7.4
protecting the legal, financial, and other interests of the Municipality and the
Public; and
7.5
restricting access where required, in accordance with Part XX of the Municipal
Government Act (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy).
Part 8
It is the policy of the Municipality of Yarmouth to ensure that all information resources,
regardless of format, are subject to timely public access according to the provisions and
limitations of the MGA (Part XX).
MUNICIPALITY OF THE DISTRICT OF YARMOUTH
Records Management Policy
R-853-16
Effective Date:
Aug 24, 2016
Records Management Policy
Page 3
Part 9
Disposal
A record whose retention period has expired under an approved records retention and
disposition schedule and has not been transferred to the municipal archives must be
destroyed unless:
9.1
a request under Part XX, Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy,
Municipal Government Act is pending on the record;
9.2
the subject matter of the record is pertinent to pending legislation or a pending
audit;
and/or
9.3
the Department Head or CAO requests that the record be retained for an
additional period with such request clearly stating the reason for the continued
retention.
Part 10
When the Designated Officer determines that the retention period for a given record
described in the Records Retention Schedule has ended, the Designated Officer may
allow the record to be destroyed or otherwise disposed of in accordance with the
instructions outlined in the Records Retention Schedule and in consultation with
stakeholders within the organization as detailed below:
10. 1 the destruction actions must always be authorized, allowing for staff to intercede
if specific issues such as a government investigation, audit, freedom of
information access request, litigation or legal claim require that destruction must
be halted. (A sample records destruction approval form is included in Appendix
A);
10. 2 records pertaining to any actual or pending government investigation, audit,
freedom of information access request, litigation or legal claim should not be
destroyed;
10. 3 records destruction should be undertaken in a manner that preserves the
confidentiality of records, including the privacy of information about individuals;
MUNICIPALITY
OF THE DISTRICT OF YARMOUTH
10. 4 all copies of records that are authorized for destruction, including security,
preservation and backup copies, should be destroyed as soon as reasonably
possible;
10. 5
records should be maintained to document the destruction actions, along with
information about the records series title, date range and date of destruction; and
10. 6
records that are required by any enactment to be kept, and all minutes, bylaws,
policies and resolutions of Council shall not be destroyed.
Chief Administrative Officer's Annotation for Official Policy Book
Date of Notice to Council members of Intent to Consider (7 days
July 21, 2016
Min)
Date of Passage of current Policy
August 24, 2016
I certify that this Records Management Policy was adopted by Council as indicated
above.dL
~'kJ~"~\Q:)1 2D\b
Chief Administrative Officer
DateJ
Date last reviewed: July 13,2016
Date last amended:
Date last reviewed by the By-Law and Policy Review Committee: July 13, 2016
Records Management Policy
Page4
MUNICIPALITY OF THE DISTRICT OF YARMOUTH
Records Management Policy
R-853-16
Effective Date:
Aug 24, 2016
Records Management Policy
Page 5
Schedule A
RETENTION OF PERMANENT RECORDS
Records that have become the "official memory" of past decisions of the Municipality of
Yarmouth must be retained in a secure environment and kept indefinitely. The following
are the documents referred to as "permanent":
Those records required by an enactment (i.e.: CRA, MGA, etc.) to be kept:
(a)
Council Matters:
1.
By-laws;
2.
Policies;
3.
Minutes;
4.
Resolutions; and
5.
CD/DVD recordings of Council meetings
(b)
Planning & Development Matters:
1.
Approved Planning Strategies (MPS) and Land Use By-laws (LUB);
2.
Approved Subdivision plans;
3.
Approved Development Agreements; and
4.
Development Permits.
(c)
Building Matters:
1.
Building Permits;
2.
Occupancy Permits; and
3.
Building Inspection Reports.
(d)
Municipal Structures:
1.
Plans (Survey/Engineering/Architectural) and specifications for any
municipal structure, building, utility, road, sewer or waterline;
2.
Permits and other approvals by regulatory authorities; and
3.
Deeds/Agreements/Leases for real properties in which the
Municipality is named as the Grantee/Owner.
(e)
Pension/Benefit Files for retired and current employees of the Municipality (i.e.:
Actuarial Reports, agreements, letters, etc.)
(f)
Financial Documents:
MUNICIPALITY OF THE DISTRICT OF YARMOUTH
Records Management Policy
R-853-16
Effective Date:
Aug 24, 2016
Records Management Policy
Page 6
1.
Annual Financial Statements;
2.
General Ledgers;
3.
Journals (cash receipts/disbursements, general, purchase);
4.
Auditor's Reports.
(g)
Administrative documents:
1.
Contracts/Collective Agreements;
2.
Partnerships;
3.
Employment Contracts;
4.
Legal Matters/Correspondence.
(g)
Summary Sheet confirming what documents were destroyed and the date of the
destruction.
Appendix "A"
Records Disposal
Authorization Form
Municipality:
Municipality of the District of Yarmouth
Address:
932 Highway 1, Hebron, NS B5A 5Z5
Records Description:
____________________________________________
_______________________________________
Submitted by:
Date
__________________________________________
_______________________________________
Authorized by:
Date
Classification
Number
and/or File Name
Description
of Record
Classification
Number
and/or File Name
Description
of Record
For year(s):
Department: