REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
SUBMITTED TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
SUBMITTED BY: Robin Estanislau, CMC, City Clerk
VIA: Robin Estanislau, CMC, City Clerk
Subject:
title
Department Operations Update - Office of the City Clerk
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Statement of Issue:
On Thursday, December 5, 2024, I will officially retire from public service after serving 31 years in local government, with 26 in the City of Huntington Beach. It has been both an honor and privilege to serve the citizens of Huntington Beach. With a newly elected City Clerk about to take office I feel obliged to share information on the status of operations in the City Clerk’s Office, including progress made in developing a Centralized Records Management Program.
Financial Impact:
None.
Recommended Action:
recommendation
Receive and File.
end
Alternative Action(s):
Do not receive and file.
Analysis:
Having worked in the City Clerk’s Office since 2005, I have been involved in the modernization of many outdated or obsolete processes and procedures. When I assumed my role as Assistant City Clerk, the department was actively involved in transferring public records stored in a Legacy system into a sophisticated, electronic data management system (EDMS) designed by an industry leader. This project required months of meetings with stakeholders (both internal and external), to design and build a highly functional database. In 2008, we expanded our relationship with our EDMS vendor to implement use of an electronic agenda management system that would improve the sharing and distribution of meeting report material to City staff, the City Council, members of Boards, Commissions and Committees (BCCs), and the public.
In the years that followed, the City Clerk’s Office partnered with Information Systems to transfer data from one EDMS system to another (Legistar by Granicus for agenda management, and Laserfiche for records management); purchased GovQA software to be shared by departments citywide to strengthen legal compliance with the California Public Records Act (CPRA); subscribed to Netfile, a hosted, digital solution that would accept and share electronic filings of Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) forms (Statement of Economic Issues (SEI) - Form 700 and Campaign Disclosure Statements) with the FPPC and members of the public; and, subscribed to Archive Social, a hosted service to manage information shared on City-hosted social media platforms.
Passport Acceptance
The City Clerk’s Office has offered Passport Acceptance services since 2000, and has no plans for its discontinuance. The application and photo fees collected for this service not only deposit a generous amount of annual revenue into the City’s general fund, but this one-stop shop offers convenience and skillful oversight of a federal form by experienced agents to ensure that those members of our community as well as others outside of Huntington Beach who wish to experience international travel successfully receive a passport.
City Archivist
The City Clerk’s Office provides support to the City Archivist. Our certified City Archivist collects, evaluates, solicits, and preserves materials that document the rich historic heritage of Huntington Beach. These materials, gathered from city sources and also our community, support the work of elected officials, senior staff and public outreach, including international media.
Core Duties
City Clerk staff provides quality customer service to colleagues in other departments that are involved in the preparation and publication of City Council meeting agenda and staff report materials. This ongoing activity involves oversight of agenda items from creation, to publication. In addition, staff serves as a training resource for others needing advice or technical assistance in the Legistar agenda management system shared by those who prepare and publish meeting agenda and report materials online for City Boards, Commissions and Committees.
The Assistant City Clerk serves as Office Manager, is highly involved in the City Council agenda preparation process, and may act as City Clerk if necessary. In addition, the Assistant City Clerk is also responsible to track all Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) Statement of Economic Interests (SEI) - Form 700 filings and Campaign Disclosure Statements. There are currently 253 SEI filers, and 63 active candidate/political action/general purpose committee accounts stored in NetFile.
City Clerk staff are skilled users of Laserfiche, the EDMS system purchased to store records with assigned retention periods. Staff takes great care to scan and index documents identified in the Council-adopted Records Retention Schedule so that staff and members of the public can easily access/locate public information. In addition, staff is readily available to provide search tips and navigational assistance to Laserfiche users trying to retrieve information.
Tasks associated with providing follow-up to City Council action require time and careful review before the execution and/or recordation of contracts and other documents (deeds, ordinances, resolutions). This responsibility can present many challenges, but the Senior Deputy Clerk assigned to manage this activity possesses the skills necessary to ensure that an accurate and complete record is produced and retained.
The City Clerk’s Office maintains a balanced annual budget, has always provided support when unexpected budget cuts are necessary to keep City coffers financially sound. In addition, the City Clerk’s Office has never made a request for an unwarranted purchase, and the Senior Deputy Clerk who works with the City Clerk to develop the budget annually also manages department purchasing and monitors spending.
In the past eight years, the City Clerk’s Office has successfully administered four General Municipal, and two Special Elections, has assisted sixty-one candidates for office, and presented nine City measures to Huntington Beach voters. In addition, the office assisted proponents of three citizen initiatives for Council recall in 2022, and currently two citizen initiatives pertaining to Library services in 2024.
Centralized Records Management Program
Background:
In February 2022, the City Council issued a recommendation to establish and maintain a centralized records management program that ensures that all City’s records are created, received, maintained and dispositioned in a cost-effective manner. This action would reverse a decades-long decentralized process with no oversight to ensure the effective and efficient handling of City records.
The recommendation was put into motion with the addition of a Records Specialist position to the City Clerk’s organization table in the FY 2022/2023 budget. This was followed by the addition of a Municipal Records Manager position in the FY 2023/2024 budget. In November 2023, the Records Management Division was formed with the appointment of Municipal Records Manager Dwight Bejec, a records and information management professional with more than 25 years of experience.
Records Management Division:
Since its formation, the Records Management Division is currently working with staff from all departments to review record-keeping practices, prioritize actions necessary to address outstanding issues, reduce risk of liability and establish policy that will guide the City’s record-keeping practices in the years to come. The following summarizes activity that has occurred since Manager Bejec assumed his critical role within the organization:
• Met with a majority of key department staff members to identify records management needs, and provided practical solutions to recordkeeping issues requiring immediate action.
• Developed and received approval for a new Administrative Regulation for a Centralized Records Management Program.
• Expanded the implementation of the Records Retention Schedule to multiple physical records storage locations in the City.
• Assisted and provided written and verbal recommendations to various departments regarding critical records issues such as proper destruction, conversion from hardcopy to electronic, processing of public records requests, electronic signatures, other.
• Implemented a systematic and secured monthly collection and onsite destruction of hardcopy records for City Hall and other City facilities.
• Currently reviewing and converting the existing “departmental” type records retention schedule into a consolidated, “functional” type records retention schedule.
• Drafted a new Administrative Regulation to implement Personally Identifiable Information (PII) policy.
The Records Management Division plans to present a request to the City Council in mid-2025 to adopt a resolution that approves a formal Centralized Records Management Program, including a “functional” type citywide Records Retention Schedule.
Environmental Status:
Not applicable.
Strategic Plan Goal:
Non Applicable - Administrative Item
Attachment(s):
None