Wednesday, September 16, 2009
If you've been following the Boston Mayoral race lately, you'll be aware of the growing scandal involving the deletion of emails by city employees contrary to state law. The Globe notes that the Menino Administration was warned against this practice previously, but ignored the warning: Judge warned city on e-mails in 2008
Mayor Thomas M. Menino's administration was warned by a state judge late last year that city employees were deleting e-mails in apparent violation of state public records law, but city officials failed to halt the practice.
The judge's order, made in a lawsuit against the Boston Redevelopment Authority, shows that the problem of records destruction at City Hall has extended well beyond Menino's closest aide, Michael J. Kineavy, whose e-mails the Globe sought through a public records request this summer.
Superior Court Judge Ralph D. Gants wrote in a November court order that BRA employees had been permitted to delete e-mails without keeping hard copies or electronic backups.
"It is plain that the BRA failed to comply with its obligation to retain e-mails in accordance with [state law],'' Gants wrote. "Prior to 2007, the BRA frequently asked its staff to delete e-mails so that its e-mail storage load would not exceed what was desirable for the efficient use of its e-mail servers.''
State public records law requires municipal employees to save electronic correspondence for at least two years, even if the contents are of "no informational or evidential value.'' Penalties include fines of up to $500 or prison sentences of up to one year...
Adamg notes the case that the Globe is loath to remind us of, that is, The David Project's suit against the Boston Redevelopment Authority to discover records involving their shady land dealings with the Boston Mosque.
Anyone who uses an email program must remove emails from his inbox if he doesn't want to have to scan through thousands of messages. And getting rid of the inevitable SPAM is also a great idea. I mean, what Boston City Hall employee wants to accidentally forward a Viagra ad to someone? And why put the responsibility on a user whose workstation could lose ALL of the emails if the machine crashes?
This fake scandal really should be directed at the city IT department, which was negligent in implementing the appropriate backups on the email SERVER. There are plenty of companies out there who can provide this expertise. Sarbanes-Oxley requires it of businesses.
So if heads must roll, start with the person who hired (or failed to hire) a competent IT consultant.