Recordkeeping for Flinders Councillors Presenter : David Bloomfield

Overview 1.Are Councillors’ records State records? 2.Management of Councillors’ records 3.Disposal of Councillors’ records

1. Are Councillors’ records State records? Any records created, received or sent in your official capacity as a Councillor is part of Council's public record, and hence a State record.

Some examples: Complaints or requests for assistance from ratepayers and the broader community Speech notes made for an address given at a Council event Declarations concerning a Councillor's pecuniary interests A Councillor’s official Facebook page A Councillor’s official Twitter account

On the other hand Records that you create, receive or send that are not done in your position as a Councillor are not State records.

Some examples: Records relating to political issues that are unrelated to Council business Personal s from friends that are unrelated to Council business Your personal Facebook page Your personal Twitter account

2. Management of Councillors’ records You must create and capture full and accurate records of any business you undertake for Council.

When should you create a record? Some records arrive complete, such as or hard copy correspondence Other records have to be deliberately created, such as details of any advice or commitments made during telephone or verbal conversations or via SMS

What should you do? Create a file note Do it as soon as possible!

Where should you send your records? Records created or received by or other electronic forms, or in paper format should be forwarded to Council for registration in the Council’s corporate recordkeeping system.

What if the records contain sensitive information? If records are of a sensitive or confidential nature, you should alert relevant Council staff to this fact so that appropriate security controls can be applied.

The possible alternative to good recordkeeping… Inquiry blames Gosford Council for fatal road collapse

Adam Holt, Roslyn Bragg, their two daughters and their nephew were killed when a section of the Old Pacific Highway collapsed in June In 2008 the Coroner found Gosford Council responsible for the drowning deaths of the five people. An inquiry report into the Council found inadequate reporting practices led to a failure to upgrade road infrastructure leading to the road collapse. The inquiry found 800,000 electronic documents were stored on individual computer drives rather than a central database. As a result the Council introduced new recordkeeping systems, monitored by the NSW Dept of Local Government

3. Disposal of Councillors’ records All Council records are covered by an authorised Retention and Disposal Schedule (ref. DA2200) This schedule has a section specifically for Councillors’ records (ref ) Councillors’ records can also be disposed of under other classes in the schedule (eg. for presentations see ref )

Keeping track of what’s been destroyed Councillors or a Council officer will need to complete entries in the Council’s Register of Records Destroyed for all records that are disposed of.

Keeping track of what shouldn’t be destroyed Some Councillors’ records are of Permanent value. While in Council’s custody, these must be properly managed According to the Archives Act 1983 once they are 25 years old these must be transferred to the Tasmanian Archive & Heritage Office

Thanks for coming and happy recordkeeping!