3 ways to respond to a records request

Responding to Records Requests

Don DeLoachFormer CIOCity of Tallahassee

Sean McLellanPublic SectorSmarsh, Inc.

Public Records:Don DeLoach• President of DDGov Consulting. • Former Tallahassee CIO• 28 years of service with City of Tallahassee • Former President of the Florida Local Government

Information Systems Association, • Former member of the Board of Directors for Public

Technology Institute

Sean McLellan • Public Sector Sales Manager with Smarsh• Government technology evangelist• Subject matter expert, providing years of insight into

technology and the public sector.

• Leading Comprehensive Archive Platform

• Focus on regulated industries including Financial

Services, Healthcare and Public Sector

• Founded in 2001 by CEO Steve Marsh

• Headquartered in Portland, Oregon with offices

throughout the USA and UK/EMEA

• 25,000+ customers with 95% retention, averaging a

20+ year lifetime value

Company Overview

3

Public Records:What Do Public Records Mean To Your Office:

• Positives:

• Trust

• Transparency

• Negatives:

• Massive legal risk

• Ongoing requests

• Lack of support

Public Records:Types of records which may cause concern:

• Today

• Email

• The Elephant in the Room:

• Digital communication

• Social Media Feeds

• Blog Posts

• Websites

• Text Messages

• Instant Messages

• Videos

Public Records:3 Most Common Methods for Capturing Records Today?

• Avoid/Ignore

• Push Responsibility to staff

• Digital Automation System

Public Records:

First: Ignore Record Keeping Concerns

• Pros:

• Don’t need to worry about archiving

• Cons:

• You not be able to fulfill requests

• Likely end up in court

• Limited communication methods (social

media, text, instant message)

Public Records:Second: Put The Responsibility on the Employee

• Pros:

• Management doesn’t have to worry about archiving

• Cons:

• Opens departments / agency to massive legal risk

• Constant struggle to archive everything

• No formal policy or structure in place, opens up

department to a wild west mentality

Public Records:Third: Adopt a Digital Records Automation System

• Pros:

• Minimize legal risk

• Capture and mange public records

• Easily manage resources

• Systems are fast and comprehensive

• Cons:

• Budget limitations

Email

Text Messages

Social Media

Web

Instant Message

Example:

The City of Clearwater, FL

Tallahassee, FL

Summary:

Search Compliance

Regulations Workflow

Non-Compliance: The outcome can result in costly lawsuits if government are not able to produce records under the Freedom of Information Act or State Sunshine Laws.

Resources: Personnel time spent on retrieving records, or legal and e-discovery fees to sort through records.

Damage: Failing to retain these types of records can damage the public’s faith to trust government agencies with tax dollars, making it harder to manage policies and enforce rules going forward.

Conclusion:Making an upfront investment in digital archiving automation can save an organization tens of thousands of dollars over time, while making its job much easier and more productive.

Modern archiving platforms can start saving a government organization money almost immediately because advances in technology have made the platforms so easy to use now.

Another important benefit of comprehensive, automated archiving, when people know their communications are being captured for future retrieval and review, they are much less likely to put things in writing that would embarrass the city or county.

Final Thoughts:

Archiving official government communications produces greater transparency that will be critical to preserving citizen support for the funding of local services.

Equally important, taking steps to automate the archiving of government email, social media, text messages and other types of content reflects the core mission of government: To serve the public interest

Thank you!