CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
TWENTY FIFTH COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. O-22-46 ENACTMENT NO. ________________________
SPONSORED BY: Tammy Fiebelkorn, by request
ORDINANCE
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Repealing The City Of Albuquerque Code Of Ordinance Sections 2-6-4-1 Through 2-6-4-6, The “Records Analysis And Disposition Committee” Ordinance And Replacing It With A New Ordinance; Amending The Existing Open Records Ordinance Sections 2-7-6-1 Through Section 2-7-6-7, The “Open Records Ordinance;” Repealing Sections 2-7-7-1 To 3 (Fiebelkorn, by request)
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REPEALING THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE CODE OF ORDINANCE SECTIONS 2-6-4-1 THROUGH 2-6-4-6, THE “RECORDS ANALYSIS AND DISPOSITION COMMITTEE” ORDINANCE AND REPLACING IT WITH A NEW ORDINANCE; AMENDING THE EXISTING OPEN RECORDS ORDINANCE SECTIONS 2-7-6-1 THROUGH SECTION 2-7-6-7, THE “OPEN RECORDS ORDINANCE”; REPEALING SECTIONS 2-7-7-1 TO 3.
WHEREAS, the City is generating more and more records each year; and
WHEREAS, the City’s ordinance governing retention and disposition of records - the Records Retention and Disposition Committee Ordinance - has not been reviewed or amended since 1976; and
WHEREAS, the City of Albuquerque is a public body subject to the Inspection of Public Records Act; and
WHEREAS, the City of Albuquerque receives an increasing number of requests each year; and
WHEREAS, in 2018, the City received approximately seven-thousand (7,000) requests for public records and since then the volume of requests for public records has increased by ten to thirty percent (10-30%) each year; and
WHEREAS, in 2022, the City of Albuquerque appears to be on track to receive eleven-thousand (11,000) requests for public records, which may be more than any other public body in New Mexico; and
WHEREAS, a growing majority of these requests appear to be submitted by commercial entities; and
WHEREAS, as of 2022, the City of Albuquerque employed at least twelve people who worked on a full or part time basis on processing requests for public records under IPRA; and
WHEREAS, as of 2022, the City will benefit from streamlining responsibilities regarding records management; and
WHEREAS, as of 2022, there are conflicting definitions of common public records terms in our ordinances.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE:
SECTION 1. ROA 1994, Chapter 2, Article 6, Part 4 is repealed in its entirety.
SECTION 2. ROA 1994, Chapter 2, Article 7, Part 6 is hereby amended as follows and its sections and subsections are to be renumbered accordingly:
§ 2-7-6-2 FINDINGS.
The New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act, Section 14-2-1 et seq., NMSA 1978, provides that some classes of records are not subject to public inspection "as otherwise provided by law." Federal law expresses a policy in favor of protecting the privacy of individuals in their social security numbers. 5 U.S.C. § 522a(b). City department heads, other employees and officials have a legitimate and reasonable expectation of privacy in their social security numbers. The legitimate and reasonable expectation of privacy that City employees have in their social security numbers, outweighs the interest in the public in the disclosure of such information. City employees other than department heads and officials have a legitimate expectation of privacy in their home addresses and home telephone numbers in order to protect such information from use for illegal purposes. The legitimate and reasonable expectation of privacy that City employees have in their social security numbers, home addresses and home telephone numbers outweighs the interest in the public in the disclosure of such information. In light of the Congressional policy favoring nondisclosure of social security numbers and the constitutional right to privacy in one's home address and home telephone numbers, the City is justified in enacting legislation codifying such protections for its public employees and officials. New Mexico state law expresses a policy in favor of protecting individuals from non-consensual distribution of sensitive images of their person. See NMSA 1978, § 30-37A-1. Individuals have a legitimate and reasonable expectation that to the extent sensitive images are evidence in a criminal case or otherwise in the possession of the City, those images will be exempt from disclosure in response to public records requests from the general public. New Mexico state law expresses a policy in favor of government bodies protecting sensitive information technology infrastructure and cybercrime is becoming a growing concern. See NMSA 1978, § 30-45-4. The City has a legitimate need to protect its information technology infrastructure and systems from intrusion and compromise.
§ 2-7-6-3 PROCESSING PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS.
(A) The Office of the City Clerk shall be the records custodian for the purpose of processing of requests for public records and shall establish a program for the application of efficient and economical management methods to the processing of requests for public records under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.
(B) The City Clerk shall receive and process requests to inspect public records, and oversee compliance with the Act by the agency records custodian to assure that the public is provided proper and reasonable opportunities to inspect public records and reasonable facilities to make or furnish copies of the public records during usual city business hours.
(C) All city employees, elected officials and any person who is a party under a contract with the city or a subcontractor under a subcontract with a party under a contract with the city shall provide public records to the agency records custodian and the City Clerk in response to any request to inspect public records.
(D) The City Clerk shall establish a fee schedule for public records annually as provided by law. The fee schedule shall include procedures and guidelines for determining when such fees should be waived or reduced. During the process of establishing fees, the Clerk shall consider classes of records which could be made available free of charge, classes of data, and quantities of data.
§ 2-7-6-4 AGENCY RECORDS CUSTODIAN AND PROCEDURES.
Each department of the city, the City Council, and each board, commission, committee subject to the Public Boards, Commissions and Committees Ordinance (the "Agencies") shall designate at least one person to be the agency records custodian for said agency who shall cooperate and coordinate with the City Clerk to respond to requests to inspect public records. Each agency shall provide the City Clerk with the names, telephone, e-mail and mailing addresses for the agency records custodian or custodians. Boards, commissions and committees may designate city staff assigned to the board, commission or committee as their agency records custodian. The City Clerk shall post the information about each agency record custodian on the City Clerk's web site to assure accessibility to the agency records custodian by the public and the press.
§ 2-7-6-5 PROCESS.
The City Clerk shall establish a procedure for responding to requests to inspect public records which complies with the requirements of state law as set forth in the Inspection of Public Records Act, Section 14-2-1 et seq. NMSA 1978 as currently enacted or hereinafter amended.
(A) The social security numbers, home addresses and home telephone numbers of city employees are confidential and exempt from inspection, and shall not be disclosed to any person, except with the express, written consent of the employee or official. The social security numbers of City department heads and officials are confidential and exempt from inspection and shall not be disclosed to any person except with the express written consent of that person. Home addresses and home telephone numbers of city officials and department heads are public record.
(B) No inspection of records shall be allowed that, if disclosed, would facilitate unauthorized access to an agency's electronic information systems or clearly jeopardize or compromise information security. Record inspection and copying shall be accomplished in a manner that does not allow the requesting party to access the computer system where the integrity of the information of the computer would be jeopardized.
(C) Images, photographs, videos or other likenesses depicting or simulating an intimate act or depicting any portion of a person's genitals, or of a woman's breast below the top of the areola, that is either uncovered or visible through less-than-fully opaque clothing, which images may reasonably be considered to be private, intimate or inappropriate for distribution are exempt from disclosure.
SECTION 3. ROA 1994, Chapter 2, Article 7, Part 7 is repealed in its entirety and subsequent chapters parts should be renumbered accordingly.
SECTION 4. A new Part is added to ROA 1994, Chapter 2, Article 7:
PART 9: CITY CLERK
§ 2-7-9-1 POLICY.
The City Council recognizes its responsibility to encourage the modernization and development of business methods in City government which result in efficiency and improvement of service. The Council also recognizes its responsibility to create policies for the retention of records and orderly maintenance of records to mitigate against the harms disaster may inflict on records and procedures processes.
§ 2-7-9-2 DEFINITIONS.
(A) Agency: Any City department, board, commission, independent agency, or entity.
(B) Public Record: “public records” means all documents, papers, letters, books, maps, tapes, photographs, recordings and other materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, that are used, created, received, maintained or held by or on behalf of any public body and relate to public business, whether or not the records are required by law to be created or maintained.
(C) City Record: all books, papers, maps, photographs or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any agency in pursuance of law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved, or appropriate for preservation, by the agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or other activities of the government or because of the informational and historical value of data contained therein. Library or museum material of the state library, state institutions and state museums, extra copies of documents preserved only for convenience of reference and stocks of publications and processed documents are not included.
§ 2-7-9-3 PROCESS.
The Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to study the retention and disposal of City government records, papers and instruments of every kind and nature.
§ 2-7-6-4 CORRELATION.
In the performance of this duty, the Clerk is directed to correlate this program where possible with that of the State Commission of Public Records.
§ 2-7-6-5 INSPECTION AND SURVEY OF RECORDS.
The City Clerk is authorized to inspect or survey the records of any agency, and to make surveys of records management and records disposal practices in the various agencies, and the Clerk shall be given the full cooperation of officials and employees of the agencies in such inspections and surveys. Records, the use of which is restricted by or pursuant to law or for reasons of security or the public interest, may be inspected or surveyed by the City Clerk, subject to the same restrictions imposed upon employees of the agency holding the records.
§ 2-7-6-6 ARCHIVES.
There shall be established an Office of the Archives which shall exist within the Office of the City Clerk and the City Clerk shall be responsible for it. The Office of the Archives shall create an archiving system to store and preserve City records.
SECTION 5. SEVERABILITY CLAUSE. If any section, paragraph, word or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid, or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this ordinance. The Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each section, paragraph, sentence, clause, word or phrase thereof irrespective of any provision being declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid.
SECTION 6. COMPILATION. Sections 1 through 4 of this ordinance shall amend, be incorporated in, and made part of the Revised Ordinances of
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1994.
SECTION 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance shall take effect five (5) days after publication by title and general summary.
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