The Sanger City Council unanimously approved Resolution 2025-09 on July 21, 2025, adopting an electronic mail records retention and destruction policy that sets a four-year automatic deletion period for city email accounts.
City officials said the policy requires city-managed email accounts to be set up so messages older than the retention period are deleted automatically. Council members were told convenience copies should not be kept longer than the policy allows, and that if an email needs to be retained beyond four years — for example because of ongoing litigation — other internal records procedures apply.
Council discussion focused on how the policy will operate in practice and who is responsible for longer retention. Alan (staff member) explained that the city’s IT contractor will enforce automatic deletion rules and that a records committee already exists to handle exceptions. Councilman Chick moved to approve the resolution; Councilman Gann seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
City staff emphasized that the originating city email recipient is responsible for moving documents that must be retained to an appropriate electronic storage system before the automatic deletion date. Staff also said most retention decisions beyond four years are managed internally, and legal holds for litigation will override the scheduled deletion.
The policy does not alter the city secretary’s role in receiving public comment forms or other records; those processes remain separate from the automated email retention rules. Council members asked for clarity about inadvertent deletions and were told archived copies may be produced if another party holds the message and that the system is largely automated for council accounts.
The council approved the resolution as a consent-agenda item and did not alter the policy text during the meeting. No additional vote details were recorded on the public record beyond the unanimous approval.
The council did not set a separate effective date in public discussion; staff will implement the automatic deletion rules and will return to council if operational changes or formal legal holds require further council direction.