§ 259-16. Power and duties.

The City Clerk as the Records Management Officer shall have all the necessary powers to carry out the efficient administration, determination of value, use, preservation, storage and disposition of the noncurrent and archival public records kept, filed or received by the offices and departments of the City of New Rochelle.

A. 

The City Clerk shall continually survey and examine public records to recommend their classification so as to determine the most suitable method to be used for the maintaining, storing and servicing of archival material. Classifications shall be as follows:

(1) 

Obsolete and unnecessary records according to New York State Records Retention and Disposition Schedules thereby subject to disposition;

(2) 

Information containing administrative, legal, fiscal, research historical or educational value which warrant their permanent retention; or

(3) 

Records not subject to disposition according to state law.

B. 

The City Clerk, working independently and/or with the advice of the Local Government Records Management Advisory Council, shall establish guidelines for proper records management in any department or agency of the City of New Rochelle in accordance with local, state and federal laws and guidelines.

C. 

The City Clerk shall report annually to the chief executive official and the governing body of the powers and duties herein mentioned, including but not limited to the attainment of annual planning goals and objectives.

D. 

The City Clerk shall operate a Records Management Center for the storage, processing and servicing of all noncurrent and archival records for all City of New Rochelle departments and agencies.

E. 

The City Clerk shall establish a City of New Rochelle Archives and perform the following functions:

(1) 

Advise and assist City of New Rochelle departments in reviewing and selecting material to be transferred to the City of New Rochelle Archives for preservation.

(2) 

Continually survey and examine public records to determine the most suitable methods to be used for the creating, maintaining, storing and servicing of archival materials.

(3) 

Establish and maintain an adequate repository for the proper storage, conservation, processing and servicing of archival records.

(4) 

Promulgate rules governing public access to and use of records in the archives, subject to the approval of the Records Advisory Board.

(5) 

Develop a confidentiality policy for archival records designated confidential, provided that such policy does not conflict with any federal or state statutes.

(6) 

Provide information services to other City of New Rochelle offices.

(7) 

Collect archival materials which are not official City of New Rochelle records but which have associational value to the City of New Rochelle or a close relationship to the existing archival collection. Such collecting shall be subject to archive space, staff and cost limitations and to the potential endangerment of such materials if they are not collected by the archives.

(8) 

Develop a procedure whereby historically important records are to be identified at the point of generation.