§ 2-382. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this division, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Department head means the officer who by ordinance, order, or administrative policy is in charge of an office of the city that creates or receives records.

Director and librarian mean the executive and administrative officer of the state library.

Essential record means any record of the city necessary to the resumption or continuation of operations of the city in an emergency or disaster, recreation of the legal and financial status of the city or protection and fulfillment of obligations to the people of the state.

Local government record.

(1)

The term "local government record" means any document, paper, letter, book, map, photograph, sound or video recording, microfilm, magnetic tape, electronic medium, or other information recording medium, regardless of physical form or characteristic and regardless of whether public access to it is open or restricted under the laws of the state, created or received by a local government or any of its officers or employees pursuant to law, including an ordinance, or in the transaction of public business.

(2)

The term "local government record" does not include:

a.

Extra identical copies of documents created only for convenience of reference or research by officers or employees of the local government;

b.

Notes, journals, diaries, and similar documents created by an officer or employee of the local government for the officer's or employee's personal convenience;

c.

Blank forms;

d.

Stocks of publications;

e.

Library and museum materials acquired solely for the purposes of reference or display;

f.

Copies of documents in any media furnished to members of the public to which they are entitled under V.T.C.A., Government Code § 552.001 et seq. or other state law; or

g.

Any records, correspondence, notes, memoranda, or documents, other than a final written agreement described by V.T.C.A., Government Code § 2009.054(c), associated with a matter conducted under an alternative dispute resolution procedure in which personnel of a state department or institution, local government, special district, or other political subdivision of the state participated as a party, facilitated as an impartial third party, or facilitated as the administrator of a dispute resolution system or organization.

Permanent record or record of permanent value means any record of the city for which the retention period on a records control schedule is given as permanent.

Records control schedule means a document prepared by or under the authority of a records management officer listing the records maintained by the city their retention periods, and other records disposition information that the records management program may require.

Records liaison officer means the person designated under this division.

Records management means the application of management techniques to the creation, use, maintenance, retention, preservation and disposal of records for the purposes of reducing the costs and improving the efficiency of recordkeeping. The term "records management" includes the development of records control schedules, the management of filing and information retrieval systems, the protection of essential and permanent records, the economical and space-effective storage of inactive records, control over the creation and distribution of forms, reports and correspondence, and the management of micrographics and electronic and other records storage systems.

Records management committee means the committee established in this division.

Records management officer means the person designated in this division.

Records management plan means the plan developed under this division.

Retention period means the minimum time that must pass after the creation, recording or receipt of a record, or the fulfillment of certain actions associated with a record, before it is eligible for destruction.

(Code 1990, ch. 1, § 24(B); Ord. No. 90-31, 12-4-1990)

State law reference

Definitions, V.T.C.A., Local Government Code § 201.003.