A City Ethics Commission subcommittee learned Wednesday that efforts to retain text messages on City-issued BlackBerry phones was delayed because the system was collecting texts from both City and personal phones, which presents privacy issues.
However, City General Counsel Cindy Laquidara said the messages can be public, an issue discussed at a recent City Ethics Commission committee meeting.
“Can text messages be public? Yes, if they have substance to them, it’s a public record,” Laquidara said Wednesday at the commission’s subcommittee on Transparency and Open Government. It met at City Hall.
“Part of the problem is capturing messages if people are using personal cell phones to text messages with any substance. They are supposed to be used in the transitory sense. ‘Meet me here.’ ‘Bring the file.’ They are not supposed to be drafting a document or making a substantive decision on a cell phone,” she said.
Laquidara said technology has progressed to the point where text messages can be captured, but she said “it is an awkward and expensive thing to do. “
“If you have a text message and save it, someone has to go through all of those and sort out the personal messages from the business,” she said.
Laquidara delayed the capture of text messages from the City BlackBerry phones.
“I asked them to stop because, first of all, I thought the action was too quick without the discussion of what’s the problem flipping it on without any administrative policy that doesn’t really address the problem,” she said.
“Secondly, they were capturing (messages from) personal cell phones, which is not legal,” she said.
When asked by Ethics Commission Chair Braxton Gillam if the City has a written policy on text messaging, Laquidara couldn’t recall one.
“There was a verbal policy under the (former Mayor John) Peyton administration, but not a written policy that I am aware of,” she said.
Cole Cartledge, City director of Intra-Governmental Services for the City, said he will work with Laquidara and Chris Hand, chief of staff for Mayor Alvin Brown, to develop a policy.
“As far as a written policy, we really have a weakness in that area that we are working to address now,” Cartledge said.
He said Hand works with government policy. “I am already planning to talk to him and once I get direction from the mayor, it will happen pretty quickly,” Cartledge said.
“We do plan on turning that switch, but we are going to make sure we work closely with general counsel to make sure people’s rights are protected and people have proper guidance on the issue,” Cartledge said.
The Office of Ethics, Compliance and Oversight is creating a training program to educate staff on the use and retention of text messages.
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