Town addresses records management policy

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

In the wake of a review into current town legislation that left vital documents vulnerable, Strathmore town council approved a records management policy to keep pace with technology advances and the electronic world, which now impact record management.
Town council approved Records Management Policy 17-01 during the regular council meeting on Feb. 7, nearly three decades after it was last updated. As the town introduced an official electronic records management system, administration created a records management policy to tackle electronic and hard copy documents. According to administration, a records inventory was completed with all departments that identified various inadequacies.
“After a review of our current town legislation surrounding records management, administration has recognized a number of deficiencies through the record management program,” said Debby Bingham, records analyst with the Town of Strathmore. “We’re making strides to update and make current our practices through bylaw and policy.”
The records management program will implement the M-Files software; however, it also focuses on approved bylaws, policies, retention schedules and procedures.
While Policy 17-01, which addresses electronic records, security and storage of town records, and retention, is required under the Municipal Government Act (MGA), Councillor Jason Montgomery was concerned about data breaches and the lack of copies currently of important documents.
Council was assured that records are not on the internet, and the Town of Strathmore has insurance to protect against data breaches.
“We need to establish those records,” said Bingham. “That is our goal to identify those vital records and make sure we have copies of those where they’re scanned in electronically and we can reproduce those. That is part of the program that we’re trying to establish.”
Councillor Denise Peterson said she was impressed with the efforts and questioned the quality control threshold, to which Bingham replied that it will be included in the procedure.
Council, with the absence of Councillor Bob Sobol, unanimously approved the Records Management Policy 17-01 on Feb. 7. Later that evening, council also passed Records Retention Bylaw No. 17-13 that is required under the MGA to destroy records. The policy outlines the process related to records disposition and prescribed approving authority. The destruction of records is conducted in accordance with administrative procedure. The bylaw authorizes administration to destroy records once their retention period has been fulfilled, and defines the role of the chief administrative officer and department heads in the destruction of documents. The Town of Strathmore’s legal counsel reviewed both items brought before council, and implemented the recommendations.