Resident urges council to retain agenda packets longer as staff seeks authority to update retention schedules

During consent calendar public comment, a Pinole resident urged the council to retain agenda packets and other city records for longer periods and to resist a proposed shift that would let staff update document retention schedules without council approval.

Rafael Menes told the council he opposed language in the consent package that would shift authority to revise retention terms from council to staff and cautioned that deletion can include digital copies. “Shifting the discretion over which items to keep and how long they're kept for from being a policy and council level decision to being an administrative and staff level decision is not the correct way to go,” he said.

Why it matters: records‑retention rules affect public access to historical records and the city’s institutional memory. Menes raised the example of planning commission packets and argued that city agenda packets should be preserved for historical reference.

City Manager Young responded that the proposed resolution would allow staff — specifically the city clerk, city attorney and city manager — to sign off on retention‑schedule updates when changes are legally mandated, as a matter of efficiency. Young said that significant practice changes or controversial policy choices would still be brought to council. Young also clarified that the council’s agenda packets "would be kept permanently because we are storing those that are actually created electronically and then stored electronically."

Ending: The council approved the consent calendar later in the meeting. Staff invited the commenter to follow up with further questions about the retention schedule.