SANMIGUEL COUNTYELECTRONIC (E-MAIL) MAIL ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY GUIDELINES AND

(Adopted June 30,1997) E-mail is an electronic message transmitted between two or more computers or electronic terminals. E-mail includes messages transmitted through a local, regional, or global computer network. E-mail is a County resource and is provided to assist in the conduct of County business. E-mail communications are public records and subject to Colorado's Public Records Law. A. Usage Electronic mail may be used for County business. The use of E-mail is encouraged provided all users follow the procedures and guidelines set forth in this policy. All San Miguel County policies and procedures regarding employee conduct apply to the use of e-mail. Only appropriate communications should be sent. Electronic communications should be free of comments that would offend someone on the basis of his or her age, race, sex, religion, political beliefs, national origin, sexual orientation or disability or any other harassing comments as would otherwise be prohibited by County policy. County e-mail shall not be used for commercial activities, partisan political and lobbying activities, collective bargaining, fundraising, and illegal activities. In addition, no statements which are defamatory to any person should be sent via e-mail or otherwise. All e-mail on County systems is assumed to be County business and therefore open to inspection; confidentiality is not guaranteed. Employees do not have an expectation of privacy with regard to e-mail messages. This does not preclude the use of electronic mail for minimal personal purposes that would otherwise be similar to telephone use.

As the County e-mail system is interconnected with other organizations' e-mail systems and the world-wide Internet, County employees should be careful to note in their communications whether their comments are personal or represent the official position(s) of the County. In the former it would be appropriate to include a tag message which contains the senders name, official title, e-mail address, possibly a phone number, and a statement such as "opinions expressed represent those of the sender and are not the official position of San Miguel County".

B. Colorado Public Records Act

The Colorado Public Records Act (the "Act") requires that all "public records as defined in the Act be available for inspection and copying by any member of the public. Under the Act, e-mail is considered 'correspondence' and as such may be a public record under the Public Records Law and may be subject to public inspection under C.R.S. 24-72-203. Thus, upon receipt of an inspection/copying demand, e-mail records will be reviewed and made available to the requesting party, subject to certain limitations. E-mail of certain types or content is exempt from the mandatory disclosure rules, and in some circumstances such e-mail MUST NOT be released to third parties. The following are examples of communications and information wluch is exempt from the Open Records Act (please note that this list is not exhaustive) certain communications to and from Elected Officials; legal advice; law enforcement investigations; employment tests and results; real estate appraisals; medical, psychological or sociological data or reports on individual persons; personnel files; letters of reference; trade secrets, privileged information and confidential financial or commercial information supplied by a third party; addresses, phone numbers and personal financial information received from customer/clients; and any other information the disclosure of which would harm the public interest, upon determination of same by the district court. For more information concerning exempt records, please contact the County Attorney's Office.
C. Retention

The County has an obligation to apply the appropriate retention rules to electronic mail, both sent and received. A retention schedule specifies how long the E-mail you send or receive needs to be kept to satisfy administrative, legal, fiscal and lustorical requirements for maintaining public records. Electronic mail records have the same retention rules as other correspondence. Users are responsible for properly retaining their E-mail in accordance with public record guidelines. Whenever possible, E-mail should be stored with the file or project to which it relates. In the current environment, this can be achieved by printing a copy of the E-mail, and storing it in the physical filing cabinets. Users: If you have doubts about the retention for any E-mail, you should print a copy for filing.

D. Request for Public Disclosure

Upon receipt of a proper request, the County is responsible for making electronic mail records available for inspection by the public. If a department receives a request for release of electronic mail, contact the County Attorney before choosing to release or withhold these records.
E. Confidential Information

Until a separate system is available for separating and saving confidential information, E-mail should not be used to transmit information that is exempt from disclosure under Colorado's public records law. Any questions should be directed to the County Attorney.

It is not the intent of this Policy to define public records, retention schedules or to identify records whch are exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Law. Questions concerning the definition of "public records" or which records are exempt from disclosure should be directed to the County Attorney. This policy shall be effective immediately.