Records and Information Management Policy

Policy statement

The Town of Oakville (town) creates, receives, and uses records and information and recognizes it as a corporate asset to be utilized to support effective decision-making, meet operational requirements, ensure openness and transparency, protect legal, fiscal and other interests of the town, and adhere to legislative requirements.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide consistent standards and guiding actions for records and information management regardless of format or medium in accordance with the following seven principles:

1. Accountability: the town is responsible for maintaining accurate and complete records and information on their decisions and actions.
2. Transparency: the town operates in an open manner, making its records and information accessible to the public.
3. Trustworthiness, integrity, and authenticity: records and information the town keeps must be authentic, maintain their integrity and ensure reliability.
4. Access and availability: town records and information should be easily accessible to authorized individuals, including town employees and the public, as appropriate.
5. Compliance: the town must adhere to all relevant legislation, policies, procedures, and best practices related to records and information management.
6. Security: sensitive and confidential records and information must be securely protected against unauthorized access, alteration, or destruction.
7. Protection: the town must protect its records and information from risks such as data breaches, physical damages, and other threats.

Scope

This policy applies to:

• records and information in all formats within the town’s custody and control, including active, inactive, permanent and archival record holdings.
• all town employees, consultants, contractors, part-time employees, and volunteers who create and use records and information during the course of their duties in the town.
• records and information of the Office of the Mayor and members of Council that are created and used to carry out town business.

Definitions

Records and Information: Any unit of information however recorded, whether in printed form, on film, by electronic means, or otherwise, and includes correspondence, memoranda, plans, maps, drawings, graphic works, photographs, film, microfilm, sound recordings, videotapes, machine readable records, an e-mail and any other documentary material regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received in the course of the conduct of town business.