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Newberg council approves records policy and data-control plan to centralize and digitize city records
Summary
Council voted to allow the city recorder to implement a new records policy and data control plan, adopting the state retention schedule, requiring department drive maps, and continuing a multi-year digitization effort the recorder said had already removed hundreds of physical boxes from storage.
The Newberg City Council on Oct. 6 approved a records policy and data-control plan that formalizes how city records are stored, organized, digitized and retained.
The city recorder presented the plan, which adopts the state retention schedule for municipal records, requires each department to prepare a drive map that standardizes folder structures and sets an annual records-cleanup cadence. The recorder said the effort has already removed or digitized more than 450 boxes of legacy records and 38 rolled plan sets since she began the program two years ago.
The policy is intended to improve public access to digital archives, speed response to public-records requests and reduce the risk that information will be lost in staff drives or buried in legacy folders. The recorder said the city will publish searchable digital collections and train staff across departments on the new system.
The council approved the recorder’s recommendation by motion (recorded as Resolution 20 25 39 33 in the meeting packet; the presenter noted a typographical error when reading the resolution number) and vote was unanimous. The recorder said the policy also allows for retention exemptions when legally appropriate and includes an ongoing plan for annual drive maintenance and a records-week process to purge short-term files.
The policy directs departments to collaborate with administration to deliver drive maps and implements a purge plan for short-term records while maintaining compliance with state retention rules. Staff said the goal is to make digital catalogs easier for the public to navigate and to improve transparency.
