“I believe, just off the top of my head,” that personnel records are retained for seven years from the time that the employee leaves the city, said City Attorney Karl Berger. “Based on various statues, the rule of thumb is two years” retention, but the city holds the documents for a minimum of five years longer.The City Council adopted a formal Records Retention Schedule 1999 that complies with all state and federal requirements. Before city records are destroyed, they are reviewed by department heads as well as by the City Attorney. If approved, documents are then shredded and the City Clerk completes a certificate verifying the destruction of the records, which is filed for future reference.Among the records being destroyed are communications, applications and correspondence for city commissions and a 2003 guide on “What To Do When OSHA Visits.”Other records related to police activity are retained electronically. Santa Paula has 17,450 fingerprint cards going back at least a decade that will be electronically scanned and stored - the State has electronic copies that can be retrieved via computer - before they are destroyed.
City Council: Personnel records should be maintained longer
December 22, 2006
Santa Paula City Council
Maintaining personnel files as historical documents was discussed at the December 18 City Council meeting, after a Councilman asked that an order to destroy records be pulled for discussion.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesMaintaining personnel files as historical documents was discussed at the December 18 City Council meeting, after a Councilman asked that an order to destroy records be pulled for discussion. Although no personnel files were listed on the to be destroyed list, Councilman Bob Gonzales asked that the item be pulled from the Consent Calendar - those items that generally are not subject to discussion - to be addressed.“I read the item and have a question what is being purged,” said Gonzales. “From a historical perspective, we’re had employees in the city whose personnel files” were destroyed after they left city employment.Gonzales noted that in one case a former employee had passed away, and that information on their city employment had no longer been available. “I hope down the road that we not purge personnel items for quite a while for the historical value,” which Gonzales noted the documents might represent.
