Administrative Regulation No.

78
City of Cincinnati Date: September 13, 2019
Revised:

Office of the City Manager

Approved:

Subject: Text Message and Personal Email Policy

__________________________________________________________________________________________

POLICY

This policy gives direction on the use of text messaging and personal email to conduct City business and guidance
for retaining these records. “City business” means the organizations, functions, policies, decisions, procedures,
operations, or other activities of the City. Text messages or emails documenting City business are public records,
and such communications may be requested by the public or subject to discovery in a lawsuit at any time regardless
of whether they exist on a personal or City cell phone or in a personal account.

This policy focuses on text messages and personal email, but any written communication in performance of City
business has the potential to qualify as a public record under Ohio law regardless of the platform.1 This policy is
intended to prevent violations of the public records law while protecting employees’ privacy.

1. Conduct City business using City accounts whenever possible.

City employees are discouraged from conducting City business through text messages on their personal cell phones
or through personal email. To the maximum extent possible, communications regarding City business should be sent
through the employee’s City email account, which is centrally retained and searchable by the City. Employees may
access their email accounts through an internet browser or the Outlook application on their phones. City business
should not be conducted through other messaging platforms or other phone applications.

2. Employees are responsible for keeping, searching, and producing City-business messages on their
personal devices

Employees are responsible for appropriately retaining any text messages or emails containing City business on their
personal phones or accounts. This means the employee must:

• Keep the text message or email for the applicable retention period; and
• Search and produce responsive records for any public record request, litigation discovery request, subpoena,
or request from the City Administration.

Text messages or emails that do not contain City business are non-records and do not fall under this policy.
Examples of non-records include:

1 Examples of these platforms include but are not limited to Confide, Signal, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and
Twitter Direct Messenger.
 • Messages making social plans, such as invitations to lunch or other social plans;
• Messages regarding personal appointments;
• Personal messages with friends and family members; and
• Employee to employee messages exchanged for purposes other than conduct of public business or official
duties.

a. The length of the retention period depends on the subject of the message

The City’s retention policy for text messages that contain City business divides communications into two different
categories: transitory or substantive.2

Transitory Text Messages:

Transitory text messages document only information of temporary, short-term value. These text messages should be
kept until their administrative purpose has been fulfilled, that is, until they are no longer useful. Employees are
encouraged to delete such messages as soon as they are no longer administratively necessary. Some common
examples of transitory text messages include:

When Record’s Administrative Purpose

Text Examples
Has Been Fulfilled
Calling in sick, notifying supervisor of late Once the message is forwarded to a City
arrival, or other staffing/leave requests or account or device
updates

Request to perform administrative task, such as When the task has been completed
making copies, bringing documents to a
meeting, or contacting someone else regarding
a City-related task
Texts of run information via CAD while End of shift
officers are on-duty

When out in the field, texting notes/photos to
yourself as a reminder
Requesting a supervisor to sign or fill out a
form or document
Communicating time and/or place for a
meeting or phone call
City-wide mass emergency notifications
Any text message that only forwards or
preserves data that is intended to be captured
entirely in another document or record at a
Once the information from that note is
recovered and recorded in another format, or
the photo is uploaded onto a City device or
account because the purpose of the reminder is
complete
Once the form/document has been signed or is
no longer needed
Once the meeting is over
Once the message is received and the
information is no longer needed
Once the message is received on the City
account or device

2 The retention period for emails varies by department. To ensure that personal emails related to City business are
retained appropriately, you should familiarize yourself with your department’s retention schedule for emails.
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 later time, such as texts forwarded to a City
cell phone or email account

Substantive Text Messages:

Substantive text messages are messages that contain meaningful discussion of City business and are not merely
transitory. To the maximum extent possible, substantive text messages should be kept for at least one year. It is
important to avoid sending substantive messages to or from non-City accounts because the retention period is longer
than for transitory texts.

Examples of substantive text messages include:

• Discussion with members of the public regarding a particular concern;

• Health clinics contacting clients/patients for anything other than date/time/location reminder of a visit;
• Requests for substantive information from employees, such as about work they have completed, advice
they have given on a project, decisions they have made;
• Discussion of how to address/resolve a work-related issue;
• Messages directing, assigning, or giving feedback on work;
• Summary of a meeting/event and outcome;
• Forwarding to a supervisor or co-worker a summary of an important statement or request made in person
from an official or member of the public;

b. Employees must check their phone and account settings to avoid improper deletion of City-
business text messages or emails

Employees are responsible for capturing and retaining all text messages and emails that relate to City business that
are stored on their personal phone or in their personal email account. Employees must review the settings on their
phones and accounts to ensure that messages are retained for the appropriate time (at least one year for substantive
texts). Some phones automatically delete text messages after a certain amount of time has passed. Other phones or
email accounts have storage capacity that results in deletion when a certain number of messages is reached. Deletion
of any City-business text message or email in violation of this policy may result in employee discipline and up to
$10,000 in fines imposed on the City.

c. City-business messages must be searchable

Employees are responsible for searching for City-business text messages, personal emails, and social media
messages in response to any public records request, discovery request, subpoena, or request from the City
Administration. To facilitate these searches, employees must promptly send a copy of any text message, personal
email, or social media message discussing City business from their personal phone or personal account to their City
email account and/or to the office’s records custodian, along with a descriptive subject line. This may be
accomplished by taking a screenshot of the conversation and sending it to a City email account.

d. Employees must produce responsive messages from their personal device or account

In the event of a public records request, discovery request, subpoena, or a request from the City Administration,
employees must search their personal devices and accounts for responsive messages. To document accurate
production of records, employees may be required to sign a statement affirming that they have conducted a search
and have not deleted any responsive material.

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 3. Employees and officials with City-owned cell phones may send City-business text messages using
technology that captures the messages.

The City is pursuing a mobile device management (MDM) option that will ensure that the settings on the City issued
cell phone always are set to comply with the record retention policies. City-owned cell phones will also be equipped
with technology to capture and centrally store text messages sent from the phone. Until the software is active,
employees in possession of a City-owned cell phone are responsible for ensuring that the phone is set to retain
messages for the appropriate time period. As with texts discussing City business on personal cell phones, employees
should be aware that their text messages on City cell phones may be released in response to a public records request,
subpoena, or discovery request at any time.

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