larimer county email policy

7/31/2019 Larimer County Email Policy

1/45


2/45

340.2D pg. 2

REVISION LOCATOR:1. Reference A2. Reference B (deleted)3. Reference D, G, and H (added)4. Section I, A and H (added)5. Section I, D

6. Section VI

POLICY AND PROCEDURE:

I. GENERAL E-MAIL GUIDELINES: The following guidelines are for the use of E-MailSystems within Larimer County.

A. MAIN PURPOSE OF E-MAIL: The main purpose of the e-mail system is to fostereffective and efficient communications. It is not meant to be a storage system for Countyrecords. Over the last several years many laws have been updated or created (ElectronicDiscovery, HIPPA, Open Records Act, etc. (references B, F, and H)) that require us to be

able to store, protect, as well as provide access to certain types of records andinformation. For this reason it is important to understand the e-mail system IS NOT arecords storage, retrieval, and archival system (reference E).

B. E-MAIL USE: E-mail is provided by the County to facilitate County work and isintended for business-related communications, including uses related to Countysponsored events and activities. Incidental and occasional personal use of County e-mailsystems is permitted. However, blatant misuse and excessive personal communications,as determined by Larimer County, is not acceptable (see Section I, G below for moredetail). Personal and other e-mail without a demonstrable connection to official Countybusiness should promptly be deleted from the County e-mail system or transferred to apersonal file of the user.

C. PRIVACY: ALL ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS TRANSMITTED VIACOUNTY E-MAIL SYSTEMS ARE COUNTY PROPERTY. THE COUNTYMAINTAINS THE RIGHT AND ABILITY TO ENTER INTO ANY OF ITS E-MAILSYSTEMS TO INSPECT, REVIEW, COPY, AND DISCLOSE ANY AND ALL DATARECEIVED AND/OR TRANSMITTED OVER THOSE SYSTEMS (reference H).BECAUSE LARIMER COUNTY RESERVES THE RIGHT TO ACCESS ALL E-MAILMESSAGES RECORDED IN ITS SYSTEMS; EMPLOYEES SHOULD NOT HAVEAN EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY WHEN USING LARIMER COUNTY E-MAILSYSTEMS.

D. CONFIDENTIALITY: Departments may require encryption of e-mail that is transmittedoutside Larimer Countys e-mail domain (co.larimer.co.us) to non-county entities.E. E-MAIL ACCESS: An E-mail user may not access the mail or account of another user

unless granted permission to do so by that user. This restriction does not apply to systemadministrators and others who are authorized to access the systems for legitimatebusiness purposes.


3/45

340.2D pg. 3

F. POLICIES OF COMMUNICATION: In general, Larimer County employees have anobligation to use their access to the electronic communications tools in a responsible andinformed way while conforming to business etiquette, customs and courtesies, andrepresenting the County in a positive manner. E-mail service is made available toemployees for the purpose of providing an effective method to communicate, increaseproductivity, perform research, and obtain information that will assist in performing job-

related tasks.

County Human Resources Policies and Procedures concerning work-related activitiesapply equally to e-mail. E-mail should follow accepted policies of communication as isin place in individual departments. The e-mail system is not to be used to create anyoffensive or disruptive messages. Larimer County e-mail will be used in compliancewith applicable Statutes and Regulations, including those that require a workenvironment free from discrimination and harassment (reference D).

G. IMPROPER E-MAIL USE: Improper use of e-mail includes, but is not limited to:1. Any message which contain sexual implications, racial slurs, gender-specific

comments, or any other comments that offensively address someone's race, age,sexual orientation, disability, religious or political beliefs, or national origin. Thisincludes the use of personal quotes or mottos in the signature area. Ensure that thepersonal quote included in the signature would not be offensive in nature.

2. Language which is offensive, obscene, or in poor taste including jokes which createan intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

3. Messages or information that is in conflict with Larimer County policies againstdiscrimination or harassment in the workplace (reference D).

4.

Personal business advertisements or announcements.

5. Messages or information which advertise or promote a business, political candidate,or political or religious cause; any activity of any outside special interest group; orany activity, group, cause, or venture of like character.

6. Non-county sponsored collections and solicitations.7. Frivolous use such as conducting private business, importing and exporting personal

files, playing games, conducting betting pools, relaying chain letters, etc.

NOTE: Any e-mail use inconsistent with the Policies stated herein, as determined by

Larimer County, will not be tolerated. Use of the County e-mail systems in violation ofthis procedure or any other County Policy on workplace behavior may result insuspension or loss of e-mail access, disciplinary action up to and including termination ofemployment, and/or legal action. If you believe these Policies have been violated,immediately contact the Human Resources Department. You may also reference HumanResources Policy and Procedure 331.8 regarding the problem solving process (referenceC). Also see Section VI for recommended email etiquette guidelines.


4/45

340.2D pg. 4

H. COUNTY-WIDE EMAILS and SITE-SPECIFIC EMAILS: E-mails sent to all recipientsin Larimer Countys E-mail system Contact list, or all recipients at a specific LarimerCounty building are called County Wide E-mails or Site-Specific E-mails. Theresponsibility for all County-Wide e-mails and Site-Specific E-mails follows:

1. The County Manager or designee pre-approves senders of County Wide or Site-

Specific E-mails. To date, the following senders are authorized to send County Wideor Site Specific E-Mails. Unless authorized (as outlined below), pre-approval isnecessary.

a. Any Larimer County content County Manager and Assistant County Manager

b. County Internal matters such as employee events and notifications ElectedOfficials and their designees; Commissioners Administrative Manager; and,Community Information Manager.

c. County External matters such as press releases (which are sometimes also sent toemployees) Elected Officials and their designees; Community Information

Manager (Public Information Officer); and Commissioners AdministrativeManager.

d. Human Resources information Human Resources Director or designee

e. Computer Systems, Phones, or Facilities matters Support Central designee

f. Bulletin Board Updates Web Administrator/Master

g. Health Information Health Department Public Information Officer

h. Pool Car (Fleet) Related Announcements Fleet Manager or designee

2. Approved senders will:

a. TO List him/herself in the TO box

b. BCC Type County Wide in the blind copy (Bcc) box for a County wide e-mail or the appropriate e-mail address/s for a site-specific campus/building/floore-mail.

c. SUBJECT For a County Wide e-mail, simply type the topic in the Subject line.Since you have typed County Wide: in the Bcc box, a [CW] will automaticallyshow up at the beginning of the subject line.

d. SUBJECT For a site-specific e-mail, begin the subject line with Site-Specific:name of campus/building/floor etc., immediately followed by the topic.

3. Content The following items are examples of appropriate topics for a County WideE-mail:

a. Employee information:


5/45

340.2D pg. 5

1) Benefits, compensation, training, payroll, and other related information.

2) Personnel policy updates, reminders, or requirements.

3) Special Employee tickets to events, meetings, and surveys.

b. General citizen and public information such as fire restrictions, boards, andcommission openings.

c. Emergency information

d. County sponsored events

e. Updates or status of Facilities or Information Technology buildings or systems.

For topics not specifically listed above, the County Manager or designee will decide whetherthe topic is appropriate or not. The Community Information Manager should be contactedfor review, awareness, and assistance when internal information also needs to be sent to

external audiences. Note that County Wide E-Mails cannot be used to promote a non-County related event or personal business.

II. PUBLIC/NON-PUBLIC RECORDS:A. PUBLIC RECORDS: Correspondence by employees through electronic mail may be a

public record open for inspection.

1. "Records" shall include: All books, papers, maps, photographs, or other documentarymaterials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by anygovernmental agency in pursuance of law or in connections with the transaction ofpublic business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by the agency.

2. "Public Records" shall include: All records made, maintained, or kept by the Countyfor use in the exercise of functions required or authorized by law or administrativerule or involving the receipt of expenditure of public funds (reference F).

3. Public record e-mails should not be deleted from the County e-mail systems until theyhave been saved onto an acceptable medium that meets national standards forpermanent record retention like any other form of public record pursuant to LarimerCounty Retention Schedules (reference E). Public record e-mails, as with all publicrecords, should not be altered in any manner. To store on the network, select text andcopy and paste text into a word document or text file. It may be necessary to save

other data such as the Subject line and any other details.

B. NON-PUBLIC RECORDS: Correspondence without a demonstrable connection to theexercise of functions required or authorized by law or administrative rule, that does nothave a significant impacton the functions of Larimer County government, and that doesnot involve spending or receiving public funds is not a public record. Non-publicrecords include, but are not limited to, the following:


6/45


7/45

340.2D pg. 7

IV.USE OF E-MAIL BY ELECTED OFFICIALS: Use of e-mail by Elected Officials to discusspublic policy among themselves may be a "public meeting", subject to all noticerequirements normally required for a public meeting. This requirement does not includecorrespondence with administrative staff and other administration matters. Generally,Elected Officials should avoid the use of e-mail to discuss public policy by two or more

Elected Officials.

A. PUBLIC E-MAILS BY ELECTED OFFICIALS: Because the task of providing e-mailcommunications to the public is one that could constitute a heavy burden on ElectedOfficials, the following procedures should be used to assist the Elected Officials infulfilling their open records obligations. A directory should be established on the e-mailservice for each elected official. The Elected Official shall transfer to this directory all e-mails that meet the definition of public record, as defined herein, and that otherwise donot fall under any of the exceptions described herein. The Elected Official or his/herdesignee is responsible for determining if any item of e-mail is public and should betransferred to the public records directory. Such public e-mails should be transferred tothe public records directory within five days of its actual receipt or as soon thereafter aspossible.

Elected officials may each designate a specific individual employee of Larimer County toreview their public records directory as often as necessary to determine whether theinformation in the e-mails constitutes a public record. Requests for public e-mails ofelected officials should be directed to the designated individual who shall then access theelected official's public records directory and make the requisite disclosures. Thedepartment designee will direct any questions regarding disclosure to the CountyAttorney's Office. Public record e-mails of Elected Officials should not be deleted fromthe County e-mail systems until they have been saved onto an acceptable medium thatmeets national standards for permanent record retention like any other form of publicrecord pursuant to Larimer County Retention Schedules (reference E). Public record e-

mails, as with all public records, should not be altered in any manner.

Anyone requesting such public e-mails shall pay a reasonable fee for the actual timespent by the department designee in searching and reviewing the public records directoryand for the cost of copying such e-mails. C.R.S. 24-72-203 (reference F), also states thatthe custodian shall, within three working days, make the records available for inspectionor provide written notice of extenuating circumstances to the person requesting theinformation as to the length of time that will be needed to compile the information (but inno case shall the time exceed 7 calendar days). The department designee may receive aPublic Records Request form (enclosure 1) from the individual making the request.

V. E-MAIL RETENTION/DESTRUCTION: When E-mail is created or received by anygovernmental agency in pursuance of law or in connection with the transaction of publicbusiness, it is considered a record (refer to Section II, A, 1).

A. E-mail records that fall under the above definition are to be treated like any other type ofrecord that would carry retention for disposition (whether it is in an electronic or paperformat).


8/45

340.2D pg. 8

B. The record category identification and content/subject of the e-mail can be researched inthe Larimer County Retention Schedules (reference E) for the appropriate retentionperiod and destruction timeframe.

C. Permanent/Archival records are those records having legal, administrative or historicalvalue that must be retained indefinitely. These records must be preserved in a medium

that will be utilizable for future generations. Advances in policies, legislation, andtechnologies in this area are changing regularly. To date, there are no national standardsfor permanency of electronic medium on which e-mail is maintained; hence electronicmedium is not considered acceptable for permanent record storage at this time. If orwhen standards for permanence of e-mail or electronic medium becomes a reality andthat medium is judged permanent, this Policy and Procedure will be re-evaluated andappropriate changes will be made. Until that time, e-mail records appraised as permanentmust be saved onto an acceptable medium that meets national standards for permanentrecord retention like any other form of public record pursuant to Larimer CountyRetention Schedules (reference E). Offices, Divisions and Departments of LarimerCounty are encouraged to work with the Records Systems Coordinator to determine themost appropriate storage medium and operational procedures in managing e-mail records.

VI. E-MAIL ETIQUETTE:

A. It is important to set the correct tone when sending an e-mail. It is recommended to usesome common sense when writing an email to avoid mistakes or misunderstandings.Below are some recommended guidelines:

1. Take another look before sending your message. Read the message to avoid anymisunderstandings. Double check for grammar or spelling errors. Keep the emailshort. Do not intimidate your recipient(s) with too much text. You may want to waitto complete the To box, until you have reread the message and it is exactly what

you want it to say.

2. Punctuation matters; comma, colon, semicolon, and hyphen all exist for a reason.They make it easier to understand the intended meaning of the sentence or statement.

3. Writing in all Caps is like shouting to the recipient. Text in all upper case issignificantly more difficult to read, and gives the perception of shouting. If you thinktyping in all one case is more convenient, consider using lower case only, because itseems to be more widely accepted than all caps.

4. Abbreviations and Acronyms usage can be quite rampant in e-mail. It is best to limitto some very common usage, such as FYI (for your information) or BTW (by the

way). Beyond that, you run the risk of confusing your recipient.

5. Resize pictures, or compress larger files to handy proportions before including in thee-mail. You may have received an e-mail with pictures so large, they completelystood out from the rest of the e-mail. There are tools available on the County intranetto help resize picture files before including within the e-mail or attaching to the e-mail.


9/45

340.2D pg. 9

6. Do not default to Reply to All. Have you ever seen someone Reply to all andmake an embarrassing mistake? If you truly want to make a group reply, simply dropdown the Reply button, and choose Reply to All.

7. Do let people know their mail has been received. Sometimes, e-mails get lost orcaught up in spam filtering. Do send a quick note back, including an informal thank

you, to acknowledge receipt even if no other reply is necessary.

8. Think twice before doing any Unauthorized forwarding of e-mails. You may havegood intentions, and have a desire to maintain transparent operations within yourdepartment. The author of the original e-mail may not have given permission toforward their original content. The recipients of the forward may not want the e-mail. It may also be necessary to clean up the e-mail before forwarding. Cleaningup the message before forwarding can rid a cluttered e-mail of unwanted andunnecessary characters, others e-mail addresses, and formatting marks.

9. Signatures and Personal Quotations: the signature is placed where you wouldnormally sign off on a written letter, and is typically no more than 4 to 5 lines. A

personal favorite quotation can sometimes accompany after the signature block, butshould remain professional and short. You dont want the quotation to be longer thanthe text of the e-mail.

10. Save a Tree: any time you send out an e-mail to a group of people, it is commonpractice for a certain percentage of the group that would print the e-mail. One of thegoals of email is to greatly reduce the use of paper. The current system has methodsof moving and storing the e-mail to folders or labels and should be used tomethodically store the important e-mails to your business function.

Frank LancasterCounty Manager

S. Andrew ParatoreChief Information Officer, FITD

Distribution:All County Departments and Elected OfficialsRecords Management SOP Manual (original)

DL/GV/vl


10/45

LARIMER COUNTY POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY AND PROCEDURE 351.4I

SUBJECT: RECORDS RETENTION PROGRAM

DATE: May 4, 2012

EFFECTIVE PERIOD: Until Superseded

REVIEW SCHEDULE: Every three years in May, or as needed

CANCELLATION: Administrative Policy and Procedure 351.4H (June 1, 2006)

ENCLOSURES:1. Department File Inventory, LCIM-5 (10/98) (dept work aid)2. Record Destruction Chart(03/11)

REFERENCES:

A. CRS 24-80-101 thru 110(State Archives and Public Records)B. CRS 6-1-713(Disposal of Personal Identifying information)C. CRS 24-71.3-112(Retention of electronic records)D. Larimer County Retention ScheduleE. Municipal Records Retention ScheduleF. Administrative ITD Policy and Procedure 351.2/Record CenterG. Administrative FITD Policy and Procedure 340.2/Electronic MailH. Human Resources Policy and Procedure 331.2.17/Privacy and Security of Protected Health

Information, Section X, B, 3

I. Administrative FITD Policy and Procedure 360.4/Courier, Section VJ. Governing Policies Manual, 3.5.6 Asset ProtectionK. Records Management Inventory Application GAINRML. Administrative Policy and Procedure340.8/Computing Acceptable Use: SecurityM.Administrative Policy and Procedure700.1/Discovery PreservationN. Administrative Policy and Procedure 700.2/Colorado Open Records Requests

PURPOSE: The purpose of this Policy is to provide consistent guidelines and practices for thestorage, retrieval, and destruction of Larimer Countys paper and electronic records (reference A

and reference J). And to provide County agencies with the recommended minimum length of

time that all types of County government records (see Section III, A) must be retained by County

employees/contractors in the interest of records control and maintenance. The Retention

Schedules (reference D) should help to establish a systematic, standard procedure for the

retention and disposal of records so that:
http://bboard/forms/lcim5.pdfhttp://bboard/forms/lcim5.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-4e2.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-4e2.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-4refA.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-4refA.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-4refB.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-4refB.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-4refC.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-4refC.pdfhttp://bboard/county_info/archives/content.htmhttp://bboard/county_info/archives/content.htmhttp://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/rm/municipalrmm/TOC.htmhttp://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/rm/municipalrmm/TOC.htmhttp://bboard/ops/351-2.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-2.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/340-2.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/340-2.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/331-2-17.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/331-2-17.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/331-2-17.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/331-2-17.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/331-2-17.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/360-4.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/360-4.pdfhttp://www.larimer.org/policies/governing_policies.pdfhttp://www.larimer.org/policies/governing_policies.pdfhttp://bboard/gain2000http://bboard/gain2000http://bboard/ops/340-8.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/340-8.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/340-8.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/700-1.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/700-1.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/700-1.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/700-1.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/340-8.pdfhttp://bboard/gain2000http://www.larimer.org/policies/governing_policies.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/360-4.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/331-2-17.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/331-2-17.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/340-2.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-2.pdfhttp://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/rm/municipalrmm/TOC.htmhttp://bboard/county_info/archives/content.htmhttp://bboard/ops/351-4refC.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-4refB.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-4refA.pdfhttp://bboard/ops/351-4e2.pdfhttp://bboard/forms/lcim5.pdf


11/45

351.4I pg. 2

Records are retained for as long as necessary for legal, fiscal, and administrative needs;and as required by local, State, and Federal regulations.

Records of enduring value are retained permanently for historical and other researchpurposes.

Records and information no longer needed are properly disposed of.SCOPE: This Policy and Procedure applies to all Offices, Divisions and Departments of the

Larimer County government.

RESPONSIBILITY:

Records System Coordinator shall be responsible for the general administration and

implementation of the Record Retention Program and will provide advisory services and

training, as required, to all departments. In addition, Records Management Services is

responsible for maintaining the inventory in the Records Center inventory tracking application

(reference K) and alerting department custodians when records have reached the end of their

retention periods; obtaining destruction approval for eligible records; and maintaining records

relating to the retention and destruction. Records Management Services will conduct periodicrandom audits of departmental records to ensure compliance these Policies and Procedures.

Elected Officials and Appointed Authorities shall ensure compliance with this Policy and

Procedure within their organization. Elected Officials and Appointed Authorities shall make

every effort to identify business emails that could be interpreted as Public Record (reference

N) and place copies of these records in the designated folders of P:\Pubdata (see Section III).

Departmental Records Liaisons are responsible for coordinating activities for the management of

all records and data and ensuring departmental compliance relating to the retention and ultimate

disposition of information within their departments.

County employees and contractors who create records during the course of business shall be

responsible for compliance with the Retention Schedule and for maintaining department recordsaccording to the minimum required retentions stated on the Schedules (reference D). Employees

and contractors must also ensure that their electronic records are organized in a manner that

makes them easily identified for archiving, when inactive, by transferring record(s) to the

Electronic Document Management (EDM) System; destroying/purging when obsolete; and

placing a legal hold when required (see Specific Requirement 1).

NOTE: The Colorado State Archives has created, researched and assured approval of the

Larimer County Record Retention Schedule (reference D) for use by all Counties in the

State of Colorado according to State Statutes (reference A).

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS:

1. No Record shall be destroyed under this Policy and Procedure so long as it pertains to ANYpending legal case, claim, action, or audit (Section VIII, B and C; reference M).

2. Records shall remain in the physical custody of the originating department, and shall not beremoved unless authorized for the purpose of conducting departmental business.


12/45

351.4I pg. 3

3. Records shall only be removed from physical custody of the originating department for thepurpose of retention and storage in the Records Center (reference F) or destroyed/transferred

after electronic storage in the Electronic Document Management (EDM) System. The

exception to this clause is when the record is transferred to another governmental entity (i.e.

annexation of a township from unincorporated Larimer County).

4.

Business records that are not identified and defined on the Retention Schedule (reference D)are considered Unscheduled Records and cannot be disposed of or transferred until such

time that they have been scheduled.

5. Department review of the Retention Schedules will occur as needed.REVISION LOCATOR:

1. Enclosure 22. References L, M, and N (added)3. Purpose4. Responsibility5. Specific Requirements 36. Specific Requirements 4 (added)7. All Sections revised


I. GENERAL POLICY:A. Larimer County must have centralized policies and department procedures for the: 1)

proper storage, 2) retrieval for future electronic use (reference C), and 3) ultimate

destruction of electronic data and documents (any form of media). Business information

is critical to the operation of Larimer County and as such must be controlled by processesthat ensure that external or internal conditions or changes (e.g., organizational or staff

changes, fire, natural disasters, etc.) do not interfere with Larimer Countys ability to

locate, retrieve, and utilize this information.

B. All official record and working copies of paper (see Section III, A for more information),

electronic records, and other forms of media created by Larimer County offices or its

contractors must follow the same retention periods as specified in Larimer Countys

Records Retention Schedule (reference D). Retention and destruction of paper,

electronic records, and other forms of media must be carried out according to the

established Policy below and in the due course of business in order to avoid legal

penalties should they be required for litigation (reference M) or public records request(references A and N). Inconsistent, selective and inaccurate destruction of records may

be viewed by legal entities as a deliberate attempt to obstruct justice or conceal harmful

information.


13/45

351.4I pg. 4

II. DEFINITIONS:A. Record Definition: Record means any letter, word, sound, picture, number, or its

equivalent, set down by handwriting, typewriting, printing, photographing, magnetic

impulse, mechanical, or electronic recording of forms of data compilation as outlined by

Records Types/Categories in Section III, A.

The term Record is applied to any and all information assets of the organization.

During its existence, information can become a record by being identified as

documenting a business transaction or as satisfying a business need.

B. Retention Schedule Function: FITD Business Administration/Records Management,

through the process of retention/disposition, uses retention schedules as an official

guideline that is approved and authorized by the Colorado State Archives and Larimer

County. All County employees and contractors are required to abide by these schedules.

Each retention period is the required/legal minimum for the record series.

C. E-Mail: E-mail is a communications tool, and is not intended to be retained for long-term. E-mail created or received, in the course of business, in pursuance of law or in

connection with the transaction of public business, may be classified as a record

(reference G). The content/topic of the E-mail justifies the classification as a record. E-

mail records that are classified under the categories (Section III, A) are to be treated like

any other type of record that would carry retention for disposition. Once classified, it is

recommended to maintain the record as an electronic document or you may transfer to

any other format such as paper.

1. Retention: There is no blanket retention for e-mails. The retention is dependant onthe subject/content of the e-mail record (reference G and Section III, A). You must

transfer the content of the email to another form outside of the email application. Itmay be necessary to capture the properties of the email (author, time/date, and

recipients) to ensure the integrity of the record classification. If identified as a Public

Record, please refer to Responsibilities Section for Elected Officials and Appointed

Authorities.

D. Voice Mail: Telephone voice mail is a communications method, and is not intended to

be retained for long-term. Voice mail messages received should be noted, and if

determined as an official business record for retention purposes, the message may be

transcribed to an electronic file or saved as a digital sound .wav or .mp3 file and stored

as an electronic file for record keeping purposes.

E. Electronic Records: Records containing machine-readable information that consists of

character-coded electronic signals that can be processed and read only by the use of

computers. The content of the data (text files, data files, audio, or image files) justifies

the classification of a single record or belonging to a series/group of documents creating

the entire record (reference C).


14/45

351.4I pg. 5

Note: this definition does not apply to versioning of software, general statistical

programs, or SQL retrieval logic, under the assumption that control of program code

should be separate from electronic data and documents and shall be performed via the

validation chain process for all system changes (e.g., software and hardware upgrades).

1. Electronic Records may include ESI (electronically stored information). Including

records identified above and Network-based System records identified below; ESIincludes voicemail, instant and text messaging, wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, data on

PDAs and Smartphones, data on cellphones, video conferencing, webcasting, and

external hard drives (flash, zip, thumb, jazz, ipods). Please contact Systems

Administration for questions regarding ESI.

F. Archive: Storage of official record copy or working copies (if deemed necessary for

support value) of electronic data or documents to magnetic, optical, or other appropriate

long term storage media for a prescribed retention period, and with the intention that the

information is not in active use.

G. Backup: A snapshot of the system which is created for restoration purposes in the eventof a disaster or a special departmental restoration request. Backups are created and

destroyed (recycled) according to an established schedule with Systems Administration.

H. Network-based System Records: Data or records created in computer applications that

are used, administered and maintained by multiple people, departments, and/or divisions

and reside on various platforms. Records created in various software applications that

are used, administered and maintained by employees and contractors and reside on

computer servers.

I. Databases: Databases or applications identified as a database is a tool or resource that

aids in reporting type documents. Databases populate a document or application,therefore the document becomes the official record (i.e. payroll, ERP, indexes, etc). An

example would be that a Payroll report is the official record copy, not the database that

populates the report.

J. External Online Data Storage services (i.e., Google Applications, ADP HR Services),

also known as Cloud Computing: Cloud Computing is the delivery of computing as a

service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are

provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network (typically the

Internet).

K. Secure Disposal: For all forms of media shredding, mulching, erasing, or otherwisemodifying the information or data to make it unreadable or undecipherable through any

means.

L. Custodian Department: The department creating the record is generally the custodian of

that record. Except in the case of a transactional record created for the purpose of an

entity wide system application (ex: Accounts Payable or Receivables, Purchase Orders,

Fixed Assets, Payroll, etc.). After a transactional record is created and authorized, it


15/45

351.4I pg. 6

becomes the property of that particular department that manages the County wide

application (ex: Financial Services). Once a record becomes property of a different

department than that which created it, the record is a duplicate or departmental copy (see

Section III, A, 9).

M. Non-Business and/or Personal Records: All files created for personal use, such as

recipes, personal correspondence, music, pictures, movies, etc. All non-business/personal electronic records must be stored on a computers local drive (C:) at all

times. Non-business files will be removed from the County servers on a regular basis

with no recovery process offered to restore any personal files at any time. If you so

choose to back up personal files from the C Drive, it must be done on personal time and

with personally purchased CDs or flash drives.

III. RECORDS CREATED IN THE COURSE OF COUNTY BUSINESS: Whether a record

(any type) is brief, long, partial, or complete; if it is created in the course of County business

and can be used as a reference to County business, it falls under the Larimer County

Retention Schedules.

A. RECORD TYPES/CATEGORIES: The time period for a record (paper, audio/video, CD,microfilm, electronic file, e-mail, etc.) to be retained will depend on which category the

document is in. Most documents fall under one of the following definitions:

1. Non-Record: Of no operating value to the County; i.e. lunch appointment, reminder,most telephone messages, basic non-business e-mail, etc.

2. Working Record: This may also be known as Working Project Files or Drafts.While a file/project is in the mode of creation, review, and revisions; it is considered

a Working File. There may be many brief/partial/incomplete parts that make up a

working file. These types of data or documents are generally utilized for analysis or

for informational purposes. It is not considered an Official record for classification

purposes until Complete or Final. See Naming Conventions, Section VII, C.

3. Transaction - Billing, request for payment, requisition, purchase order, work order,etc.; may possibly include supporting documentation for this transactional type

record.

4. Administrative - General correspondence, administrative reports, inter-departmentalfunctions, etc. The usefulness of a record in the conduct of the organizations

business and/or evidence of business transactions thereof.

5. Legal - Litigation, claims, contracts, agreements, resolutions, etc.6. Research Projects - Studies, narratives, reports oflong-term value for the

organization, etc.


16/45

351.4I pg. 7

7. Historical - Records serving as evidence for research of long-term value:Examples of documents that are considered to have long-term value include (but

are not limited to): originals of projects, statistical and narrative studies, surveys and

reports, journals, ledgers and registers, minutes, budgets and certain personnel

records.

8. Vital Records that are fundamental to the functioning of the organization andnecessary to continue business operations without delay under abnormal conditions,

such as a natural disaster.

9. Duplicate or Convenience Copies Extra copies of any of the above categoriescreated or received solely for ease of use or reference.

NOTE: There are exceptions to the above categories and to assure accurate retentions

and destruction, be sure to check the classification schedules.

IV. RECORDS INVENTORY AND ACCESSIBILITY:

A. DOCUMENT COLLECTION: All records created in the course of County business(Section III), are gathered in a variety of methods. They may be collected in a

department network system, filing system, or notebooks/binders. Records may also be

collected in any manner for departmental use, and then the official record copy may be

transferred to another department, agency, or entity; or captured in an electronic

transaction system. All personnel information transferred to Human Resources shall

follow the procedures as outlined in Section V of Administrative Policy and Procedure

360.4 (reference I).

B. RECORDS INVENTORY: The Record Liaison or other department staff (may involvethe Records System Coordinator) should perform a systematic examination of all

department records at the beginning of each year to ascertain if records are ready for

destruction, off-site storage, or transfer to an electronic document management system.

1. As a 'work aid' in the department, it is recommended that each department maintain arecord inventory, using the Department File Inventory (enclosure 1). The Inventory

should be updated for each new record series that comes into existence and for any

record files or categories that have been updated or changed.

2. Once the inventory has been classified according the Retention Schedules (referenceD), the department may use the Destruction Chart (enclosure 2) as an aid in

determining the records life term.3. The department may also use the section on Naming Conventions (Section VII, C)

as a work aid to determine electronic record classifications and retention.

4. A report will be generated on a quarterly basis from Systems Administrators and

provided to Appointed Authorities (or Business Analysts) to aid in determining

electronic records classifications for business use and the retention of such records.


17/45

351.4I pg. 8

See Section VII, C, 3. Upon approval from designated authority, files will be

archived and/or removed from network servers.

C. ACCESS OF RECORDS: The department Record Liaison and other department staff

shall determine which of the three basic types of 'access frequency' may apply to

departmental records. A decision needs to be made to determine if records are ready for

destruction according to retention; and if not, whether they should retire records toinactive storage (FITD Records Center (reference F) or other off-site storage) or be

managed by one of the methods outlined below. This determination may apply to files

transferred to Human Resources or other departments via Courier (reference I).

Inactive - sporadic or no referenceor off-line (should be purged)

Semi-Active - referenced every few months or work in progressor near-line/off-line (off-line could be time sensitive for retrieval purposes)

Active - any record used as a reference on a regular basis, i.e. weekly, monthlyor on-line (accessed at any time)

1. Active paper records should be retained in the department. Active e-records will bemaintained on County network servers. Active records that are scanned and placed in

the Electronic Document Management System are treated like any other e-record, and

acquires the retention lifecycle tied to the proper classification. The paper record is

then destroyed.

2. Semi-active records should be stored off-site if possible or in the FITD RecordsCenter, and semi-active e-records will be held on near-line storage for time sensitive

retrieval and restoration to on-line directory.

3. Inactive records should be stored off-site (FITD Records Center or department off-site storage), if possible. Many inactive records are scanned and placed into the

Electronic Document Management System (EDMS). Any record classified with

long-term value should be indexed and placed into the EDMS. (Call Support Central

to place a request to add new document classes to the Document Management

System.) Inactive e-records may be compressed and placed into an archive directory.

When paper records are sent to the Record Center for inactive storage, the liaison will

use the Records Management Application (reference K) to enter the files. The

Retention Code (with Title and Description) is available for use. If the record is not

listed on any of the schedules in the application, contact the Records System

Coordinator.

NOTE: See Section VIII for processes regarding Destruction and Disposition of all

records.

V. RETENTION SCHEDULE USE: The schedules are an official guideline for the retention

and destruction of all department records (regardless of media form), including records


18/45


19/45

351.4I pg. 10

A. Department review of the Retention Schedules will occur as needed. If a discrepancy isfound or you have additional description information, contact FITD/Records

Management. The recommendations can be made at any time during the year. The

Records System Coordinator will contact the Colorado State Archives with the

recommendations for change or addition to the schedules.

VII. GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING ELECTRONIC RECORDS:

A. Summary: Electronic records and data are kept in an active computing environment over

the period of time that the information is needed for analysis, summarizing, active

information purposes, and internal or external auditing. At the end of this active period,

if further retention is required, electronic records and data must be archived to an

appropriate archive media or system. During its entire life cycle, electronic information

must maintain readability. Systems Administration personnel will ensure data migration

from system to system when applicable.

Files must be saved in a format that is capable of being retrieved in a validated state.

This may be accomplished by: 1) saving files in a format that is not dependent on thesoftware or hardware that the files were generated in; 2) converting and validating files

when there is a software or hardware change or when it is required; and 3) addressing

readability issues by validation testing of data migration.

B. Storage and Protection: Staff should develop and implement departmental procedures for

physically accessing electronic documents and protect documents from unauthorized

access and alteration of information. Systems Administration has policies and processes

in place to protect information and data on shared network servers.

Good security practices include using passwords to gain access to electronic workspace,

locking keyboards, or turning computers off when absent (reference L). Apply careful

work habits to protect electronic information from physical hazards. Keep magnets well

away from electronic media and equipment. A magnet could reorganize, and therefore

destroy, the information stored on the magnetic media. However, when electronic

information seems to be lost due to corruption or damage, it can often be recovered using

utilities programs.

Electronic information stored on disks, CDs, or DVDs have a limited life expectancy.

This relates to the life expectancy of the storage medium and the ability of software to

read documents created using an earlier version of software or a different software

altogether. Check readability of electronic information regularly and transfer data to new

storage media as required.

C. Naming Conventions: Departments should set up standard conventions for naming the

directories and the files stored under the directories. There are many benefits to

establishing conventions for directory and file names.


20/45

351.4I pg. 11

Documents can be easily and quickly located in your own as well as someone elsesworkspace, in shared workspace, on diskettes/CDs, on backup systems, in off-site

storage, etc.

Since adopting naming conventions allows employees to recognize documents thatothers may have filed, they can be re-used, and duplicating work is avoided.

The file name can be used to distinguish final version from drafts. Documents with the same name cannot be stored in the same directory.Naming Convention Standards (documents that remain on network servers):

1. DRAFT: the word Draft should be placed somewhere in the name of any document

while in draft or working form. See Section III, A, 2 Working Records.

2. FINAL: the word Final should be placed somewhere in the name of any document

that is approved by the Board of Commissioners, County Manager, or Senior

Management Team. See Section III, A, 2 Working Records.

3. Reports are generated on a quarterly basis from Systems Administration based on a

non-accessed date rule of 2 years (see Section IV, B, 3). Reports may contain thedirectory path, the name, last access date, file type and size, metadata (author,

creation date), and may contain the network user-id information.

NOTE: A directory or folder path may be exempt from directory scanning activities for

reporting purposes. Authorization from the department Business Analyst must be

obtained prior to exemption.

D. EDMS: Standards for moving documents into the Document Management System:

1. Business Requirements must be submitted to the Imaging Support Team via a request

through Support Central. Analysis, building, and testing of the business requirements

for documentation will commence. Index values (including document types) will be

built into the Document Class per the request. An analysis sheet (questionnaire) maybe provided to the requesting department to aid in the analysis.

2. Once the Document Class is tested and approved, tools will be in place to capture and

release the file with index values to the Document Management System.

NOTE: See Section VIII, D, 4 & 5 regarding archiving and destruction information for

electronic records.

VIII. RECORD DISPOSITION: The Record Liaison or other department staff may destroy or

transfer records throughout the year, provided the record has met the proper retention

period. It is recommended to schedule destruction annually (preferably in the first quarter)for larger quantities or regular series groupings. Each department, as custodian, is

responsible for the appropriate destruction of their records (both in the department and

any departmental off-site) according to the retentions on specific schedules. The Records

System Coordinator shall be responsible for records disposition within the FITD/Records

Center (see Section VIII, D, 1). Please refer to the Record Destruction Chart (enclosure 2)

to aid in the destruction analysis.


21/45

351.4I pg. 12

A. PERSONAL INFORMATION POLICY: Larimer County requires that certaindocuments be disposed of in a safe and secure manner (reference B). Employee

Protected Health Information (PHI) falls under Human Resources Policy and Procedure

331.2.17 (reference H). This Policy applies whether the document is in paper or

electronic form.

These personal information documents include (but are not limited to):

All documents containing social security numbers; personal identification numbers,birth date, home address, medical information, system passwords/pass-codes;

passport numbers; security/background data; employer, student, government, or

military identification numbers; or financial transaction information (i.e. cancelled

checks, credit/debit card numbers).

All consumer reports or documents derived from consumer reports. Examplesinclude credit reports, motor vehicle records, and criminal background screens when

obtained through a background screening service.

If in paper form and the criteria above apply, the documents must be shredded by placingin secured marked bins intended for shredding. If in electronic form, the documents

and/or data must be rendered unreadable, undecipherable, and unrecoverable. If you are

uncertain whether a document falls under this disposal policy, assume that it does and

follow this policy, rather than assuming it does not.

To avoid possible issues of confidential information being obtained before destruction,

all employees who come into contact with such information should practice the following

precautionary measures:

Collect personal identifying information only when necessary. Limit access to information to only those who have a business related need to

know.

Develop security procedures in order to store, maintain, use, and discloseinformation.

Instruct employees to keep sensitive papers off desks and keeping documents withpersonal identifying information locked in cabinets.

Departments are responsible for identifying their areas that may contain personal

identifying information and taking appropriate action. Please refer to your Department

Head or Appointed Authority for further information on your departments procedures

regarding confidential material.

B. LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES: Employees and Contractors must be aware that theretentions listed for all records are the minimum required retention, as authorized by the

State of Colorado Archives (reference A). NOTE: If there is any request to produce

documents for legal litigation or process; a HOLD request for records will apply. This

will delay the disposition process for all records requested (Specific Requirements #1,

reference M).


22/45

351.4I pg. 13

C. LEGALLY REQUIRED SUSPENSION OF RECORDS DESTRUCTION: This

provision outlines the Policy of Larimer County to retain all documents related to any

impending or active governmental investigation; or threatened or pending litigation. This

should include a departmental procedure for issuing a records-hold notification to all

employees who might have access to records that are related to the proceeding and to

suspend any potential destruction of records subject to the hold. This includes records inelectronic form and backup materials. Refer to Administrative Policy and Procedure

700.1 Discovery Preservation for more information (reference M).

1. All types of records (see Section III), created in the course of business, can be used ina court of law. Records are evidence of the departments transactions and should

follow the appropriate retention schedule to avoid potential issues involving

litigation.

D. RECORDS DESTRUCTION: All records will be destroyed in a safe and secure manner.

Individual departments and Elected Offices are required to establish internal processes

for this disposal. FITD Business Administration and Facilities Support Services willassist departments and offices in identifying and implementing appropriate options.

Departments and Elected Offices may choose to be responsible for their own record

destruction (by shredding or other means), provided it is within the guidelines set forth in

this Policy and Procedure regarding confidentiality and provided the department/elected

office adheres to any other guidelines set forth by Larimer County.

1. All paper records, whether classified as confidential/protected information or

daily/routine information must be destroyed. For example, in the FITD Records

Center, paper records are destroyed by shredding. The Facilities Division has a

contractual agreement with a third party vendor to appropriately destroy all paper

documents collected by Larimer County. Either by shredding common paper

products or by locking and then shredding all confidential material. Also, individual

departments and elected offices may inquire on other available media destruction

services available by contacting Support Central.

2. Inactive e-records will be archived and removed from network directories (see #4 and

#5 below). After a predetermined timeframe, archived electronic records shall be

erased or otherwise modified to make it unreadable, undecipherable, or

unrecoverable.

3. FITD/Record Center Destruction: If a record stored in the Record Center is due

for destruction according to the Retention Schedule (reference D), it must be

destroyed by FITD/Records Management. A Disposition Memo will be created

within the first quarter of each year from the Records Management Application

(reference K), specifying the inventory of boxes or folders scheduled for destruction.

The Disposition Memo will contain all inventories, and must be signed by the

Department Head or other Authorizing Signature before destruction will commence.


23/45

351.4I pg. 14

It is recommended that a review should be made of box or folder inventory lists

before destruction. Records Management will maintain signed and dated Disposition

Memos/Lists authorizing the destruction for each box of records destroyed for a

period of 3 years after destruction.

4. Network Servers Archiving: Archiving of records housed on Larimer County file

servers will follow policies determined by FITD Systems Administration. Thesepolicies will be driven by business need and network storage capacity. Currently files

are removed on the (T) transfer folder on the LCEN_FS server after 60 days of

inactivity on the file.

5. Server Archive Disposition: Servers replaced or otherwise removed from ITSM

Inventory; and hard disk drives will follow FITD processes for destruction of data on

disk drives. This process destroys the data and removes all previous pointers to data.

Backup tapes and/or Archive tapes no longer readable by Larimer County tape drives

will be destroyed.

6. External Online (Cloud) Storage Archiving/Disposition (see Section II, J fordefinition): Storage maintenance tasks such as backup, data replication, and

procuring additional storage devices are the responsibility of the service provider.

Frank Lancaster

County Manager

Mark Pfaffinger

Interim Chief Information Officer

Vicki Lucero, CRM

Records System Coordinator

Distribution:

All County Department and Elected Officials

Records Management SOP Manual (original)


24/45

351.4I pg. 15

VVL


25/45

LARIMER COUNTY POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

HUMAN RESOURCES POLICY AND PROCEDURE 331.8C

SUBJECT: CORRECTIVE AND ADVERSE ACTIONS; GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE;

AND PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS

DATE: September 29, 2009

EFFECTIVE PERIOD: Until Superseded

REVIEW SCHEDULE: AnnualCANCELLATION: Human Resources Policy and Procedure 331.8B, dated October 3, 2006

ENCLOSURE(S): None

REFERENCE(S):A. Human Resources Policy and Procedure, 331.9,Employee Development

B. Human Resources Policy and Procedure, 331.7,Separation from County ServiceC. Human Resources Policy and Procedure, 331.4,Conditions of EmploymentD. Human Resources Policy and Procedure, 331.2,Limited Term Employee

E. Governing Policy Manual:Policy 3.2 - Treatment of StaffF. Larimer County PolicyBCC P# 15A, Sheriffs Department Personnel PoliciesG. Human Resources Policy and Procedure, 331.3,Classification and PositionsH. Appointed Officials,Appendix A

PURPOSE: To establish a process to review employee performance and conduct and to review

Adverse Actions.
http://bboard/employee/perspol/331-9.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-9.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-9.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-7.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-7.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-7.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-4.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-4.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-4.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-2.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-2.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-2.htmhttp://larimer.org/policies/governing_policies.pdfhttp://larimer.org/policies/governing_policies.pdfhttp://larimer.org/policies/governing_policies.pdfhttp://larimer.org/policies/sherfpersnl.htmhttp://larimer.org/policies/sherfpersnl.htmhttp://larimer.org/policies/sherfpersnl.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-3.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-3.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-3.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/appendix_A.pdfhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/appendix_A.pdfhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/appendix_A.pdfhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/appendix_A.pdfhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-3.htmhttp://larimer.org/policies/sherfpersnl.htmhttp://larimer.org/policies/governing_policies.pdfhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-2.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-4.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-7.htmhttp://bboard/employee/perspol/331-9.htm


26/45

SCOPE: This policy and procedure applies to all employees (reference E) of Larimer County

and employees of the Office of the District Attorney, Eighth Judicial District, with the exception

of employees of the Larimer County Sheriff's Office pursuant to Larimer County Policy BCC P#

15A (reference F).

RESPONSIBILITY: The Human Resources Director administers this policy.

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS:

REVISION LOCATOR:

1. References F through H (added)2. Scope3. Section III, C4. Section IV (added)5. Section VI, D6. Section VII, B, 4, d7. Section VII, B, 5, g8. Section VIII, B, 3, a


I. GENERAL POLICY:

A. This Policy and Procedure provides a means for resolving issues arising from employee

performance or conduct and from certain listed disagreements between an employee

and Larimer County. This policy and procedure addresses four (4) topics: 1. Corrective Actions: actions to assist employees in correcting and/or improving

conduct and behavior that is inconsistent with the expectations and standards


27/45

established by Larimer County. Corrective Actions do not result in the employee

losing or having a reduction in pay or grade.

2 Adverse Actions: serious actions for performance and conduct that is inconsistent

with the expectations and standards established by Larimer County. Adverse

Actions result in the employee losing or having a reduction in pay or grade either

through suspension without pay, demotion or dismissal (reference B).

3. Grievance Procedure: provides Regular, non-probationary employees a process to

review Adverse Actions.

4. Problem Solving Process: provides all employees a process to address issues with

certain work-related matters.

B. Larimer County Elected Officials and the Board of County Commissioners expressly

authorize final decisions on grievable Adverse Actions as outlined in this policy and

procedure.

C. As used throughout this policy and procedure, "Appointing Authority" refers to an

Elected Official, Division Head or Department Head who makes the final decision on

an Adverse Action.

D. When addressing either job performance or conduct deficiencies of Temporary

employees, Regular employees, Limited Term Employees or Appointed Officials,

Larimer County is not required to follow and employees have no right to expect any

specific formal disciplinary, corrective or adverse action process. The County is

authorized to impose Corrective Actions, Adverse Actions or other disciplinary or

corrective actions depending on the specific circumstances.

II. EMPLOYEE STATUS:


28/45

A. Temporary Employees: Employees in Temporary or seasonal positions remain

employed with Larimer County at the mutual consent of the employee and the County

(reference G). Either the employee or the County may end the employment

relationship at will, with or without cause at any time and without following any

Corrective or Adverse Action process.

B. Regular and Limited Term Employees:

1. For the purposes of this policy and procedure, Limited Term Employees have the

same status and rights as Regular employees (references D and E).

2. Probationary: employees in Regular positions serve a probationary period in

accordance with County policy (reference C). During the probationary period,

these employees remain employed with Larimer County at the mutual consent of

the employee and the County. Either the employee or the County may end the

employment relationship at will, with or without cause at any time and without

following any Corrective Action, Adverse Action or Grievance process. The

County may unilaterally extend a probationary employee's probationary period. If

the probationary period is extended, the employee remains in probationary status

until specifically released from that status in writing by the Appointing Authority.

3. Post-probationary: once an employee in a Regular position successfully completes

his/her probationary period, the County may not end the employment relationship

without cause and he/she may use the Grievance process to review an Adverse

Action.

C. Appointed Officials: Employees in Appointed positions as identified in County policy

remain employed with Larimer County at the mutual consent of the employee and the

County (references C, G, and H). Either the Appointed Official or the County may end

the employment relationship at will, with or without cause at any time and without

following any Adverse Action process.


29/45

D. Elected Officials: Elected Officials are elected by the citizens of Larimer County and

are not covered by this policy and procedure.

III. EXPECTATIONS:

A. Larimer County expects all employees to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects

favorably on County service and to meet or exceed reasonable expectations.

B. Managers and supervisors are expected to supervise employees to encourage employees

to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects favorably on the County and to meet or

exceed performance and conduct expectations. Managers and supervisors shall

reasonably exercise their discretion in meeting this expectation.

C. The Human Resources Department is available for all employees to help achieve the

highest levels of performance and to identify the appropriate tools to improve employee

performance (reference A). The Countys Employee Assistance Program is one of the

available tools for both employees and supervisors/managers.

IV. BASIS FOR CORRECTIVE OR ADVERSE ACTIONS:

Employees may be subject to a Corrective or Adverse Action for performance reasons, for

conduct reasons, or for both. The following are some examples of misconduct which could

lead to a Corrective or Adverse Action. This is not a complete list and Corrective and

Adverse Actions may be based on conduct reasons different from those listed below.

A. Deliberate or careless conduct endangering the safety or well being of employees or the

public;

B. Negligent or willful damage or waste of County property and/or resources;


30/45

C. Refusal or failure to comply with a lawful order, instruction, law, regulation or County

policy and procedure;

D. Inappropriate conduct toward fellow employees, the public, and/or others doing

business with the County;

E. Unauthorized possession, consumption and/or being under the influence of alcohol

and/or controlled substances, including the misuse of prescribed medication, while in a

work status or on County property;

F. Misuse of leave, unexcused absence, tardiness, or excessive absenteeism;

G. Conviction of, admission to, or entering a plea ofnolo contendre (no contest) to a

charge of a serious crime;

H. Soliciting or accepting bribes in the course of County work or deliberate misuse of

County funds or property;

I. Misuse of and/or unauthorized disclosure of official and/or confidential information;

J. Harassment and/or illegal discrimination;

K. Falsification and/or misrepresentation regarding County business or interests;

L. Unreported absence;

M. A reasonable belief by the Appointing Authority that an employee has committed or

engaged in an act that is contrary to the interests of the County including, but not

limited to, a serious criminal act;


31/45

N. A reasonable belief by the Appointing Authority that an employee has engaged in any

lawful activity off the premises of the County during nonworking hours where

restriction of the activity

1. relates to a bona fide occupational requirement or is reasonably and rationally

related to the employment activities and responsibilities of a particular employee

or a particular group of employees, rather than to all employees of the County, or

2. is necessary to avoid a conflict of interest with any responsibilities to the County

or the appearance of such a conflict of interest.

V. CORRECTIVE ACTIONS:A. Corrective Actions are intended to provide a means for correcting certain employee

performance and conduct. Corrective Actions may include a verbal coaching, written

supervisory guidance, written performance improvement plan and performance

evaluation narrative.

B. If an employee disagrees with a Corrective Action, he/she may use the Problem Solving

Process, but not file a Grievance, under this policy and procedure.

VI. ADVERSE ACTIONS:

A. Types of Adverse Actions:

1. suspension: the temporary placement of an employee in a non-pay, non-duty status;

2. involuntary demotion: the involuntary placement of an employee in a position with

a lower grade and/or rate of pay for disciplinary reasons or


32/45

3. dismissal: the involuntary separation of an employee from County service

(reference B).

B. An Adverse Action may be issued for job performance deficiencies or for employee

misconduct.

C. Job Performance Based Adverse Actions:

1. Larimer County expects all employees to perform their jobs satisfactorily based on

the reasonable expectations of their supervisors. All employees are required to

comply with Larimer County's Employee Development policy, specifically the

Performance Evaluation policy and procedure (Reference C).

2. If an employee's performance does not meet the reasonable expectations of his/her

supervisor, the supervisor is required to exercise his/her discretion in taking

reasonable action to ensure the employee(s) perform(s) at a satisfactory level.

3. All Adverse Actions for performance reasons must be reviewed in advance by the

Human Resources Director, or designee.

4. Depending upon the circumstances, the Human Resources Director or designee may

require a Pre-Adverse Action meeting for job performance reasons.

5. An employee who is issued an Adverse Action may file a Grievance.

D. Conduct Based Adverse Actions:

1. Larimer County expects all employees to conduct themselves in an acceptable

manner. Managers and supervisors exercise significant discretion in supervising

their employees and determining acceptable employee conduct. If an employee

violates standards of acceptable behavior on the job or away from the job, an


33/45

Adverse Action may be imposed without notice except for the Pre-Adverse Action

described below.

2. An Appointing Authority may take an Adverse Action against an employee if the

Appointing Authority has a reasonable belief that an employee has engaged in any

illegal activity on or off the job.

3. An Appointing Authority may take an Adverse Action against an employee if the

Appointing Authority has a reasonable belief that an employee has engaged in any

lawful activity off the premises of the County during nonworking hours where

restriction of the activity

a. relates to a bona fide occupational requirement or is reasonably and rationally

related to the employment activities and responsibilities of a particular

employee or a particular group of employees, rather than to all employees of the

County, or

b. is necessary to avoid a conflict of interest with any responsibilities to the

County or the appearance of such a conflict of interest.

4. If an Appointing Authority has a reasonable belief that an employee should be

subject to an Adverse Action pursuant to this section, the Appointing Authority will

consult the Human Resources Director or designee prior to taking any action. After

such consultation, the employee may be placed on immediate administrative leave.

If circumstances do not permit advance consultation, the Appointing Authority may

place an employee on administrative leave pending consultation with the Human

Resources Director or designee.

5. The Appointing Authority, using his/her discretion may, after consultation with the

Human Resources Director or designee, impose an Adverse Action. A Pre-Adverse

Action meeting is required for Adverse Actions taken pursuant to this section.


34/45

6. An employee who is issued an Adverse Action pursuant to this section may file a

Grievance.

E. Pre-Adverse Action Meeting:

1. The Appointing Authority will provide the employee with a written notice of:

a. the employee being subject to a possible Adverse Action, including the

anticipated nature and seriousness of the Adverse Action, if appropriate;

b. the specific grounds for the possible Adverse Action including appropriate

citation to any County policies or other law if applicable and

c. the time and place for a mandatory meeting between the Appointing Authority

and the employee and the purpose for that meeting.

2. The pre-Adverse Action notice will be reviewed by the Human Resources Director

or designee and the County Attorney's Office prior to being issued.

3. At the time the pre-Adverse Action notice referenced above is issued, the

Appointing Authority may place the employee on administrative leave until a final

decision is made. The Appointing Authority will consult with the Human

Resources Director or designee about this decision.

4. The purpose of the pre-Adverse Action meeting is to allow the employee an

opportunity to respond to the grounds for the proposed Adverse Action. The Human

Resources Director or designee shall facilitate the meeting and record the meeting

as he/she deems appropriate.


35/45

5. At the pre-Adverse Action meeting, the employee shall have an opportunity to

respond to the matters presented in the pre-Adverse Action notice and/or present

any additional or mitigating information that the employee believes is relevant to a

determination regarding the pending Adverse Action. The employee may have

representation at his/her expense at this meeting. If the employee is to be

represented by an attorney, the employee will notify the Human Resources Director

or designee prior to the meeting so the County Attorney may also attend.

6. After the meeting, the Appointing Authority will consider the information offered

by the employee as well as all other information deemed relevant. The Appointing

Authority will also determine whether any further information is needed. The

Appointing Authority shall promptly gather additional information necessary to

make a final determination. The Appointing Authority's final determination will be

reviewed by the Human Resources Director or designee and the County Attorney's

Office prior to issuance.

7. Within a reasonable time after the pre-Adverse Action meeting, the Appointing

Authority shall render a written decision regarding the proposed Adverse Action.

The written decision shall be promptly delivered to the employee in person or in a

manner that will reasonably ensure and establish the employee's receipt. If an

Adverse Action is taken, the written decision shall contain the following:

a. a statement of the grounds for the disciplinary action, including findings about

the subject behavior, relevant dates,policy violated and any necessary

credibility determinations;

b. a statement of the Adverse Action to be taken and an explanation of the level of

seriousness;

c. the effective date of the Adverse Action;


36/45

d. a statement that the employee may grieve the Adverse Action and the time limit

within which the employee may exercise the right to grieve the Adverse Action,

including a specific reference to the County Grievance Procedure. A copy of

this policy will be attached to the notice of decision; and

e. if the Adverse Action taken is dismissal from employment, the written decision

will also contain information about such rights the employee may have,

including benefits continuation.

VII. GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE:

A. Purpose:

1. The Grievance Procedure is a process under which an employee may seek review of

the Adverse Actions of suspension, involuntary demotion or dismissal.

2. Pay rates, job classifications, performance evaluations and merit increases,

corrective actions, reassignments or other actions that do not cause a pay reduction,

suspension without pay, or dismissal are not grievable matters.

B. Procedure:

1. The Grievance must be in writing and filed with the Human Resources Director or

designee and a copy must be sent to the Appointing Authority who issued the

Adverse Action.

2. The Grievance must clearly state:a. the factual, legal, and/or policy basis on which the employee objects to the

Adverse Action and/or the grounds given by the Appointing Authority for the

Adverse Action;


37/45

b. the remedy sought;

c. whether the employee requests an administrative hearing on the Grievance or a

review by the Human Resources Director without a hearing;

d. if a hearing is requested, the employee must indicate whether the request is for a

hearing open to the public and the reasons for such a hearing; and

e. if a hearing is not requested at the time a Grievance is filed, the employee's right

to a hearing will be deemed voluntarily waived.

3. Time Period for Filing

a. A Grievance must be filed within five (5) business days after the employees

receipt of the written Adverse Action notice. If the employee fails to file the

Grievance within this time period, the Grievance will be considered untimely

and a voluntary waiver of the employee's Grievance rights. The filing of a

Grievance will not delay or otherwise affect the effective date of the subject

Adverse Action.

b. The untimely filing of a Grievance may be waived if the Human Resources

Director finds good cause to extend the time period.

4. No Hearing Requested:

a. If the employee/Grievant requests review by the Human Resources Director

without a hearing, the Human Resources Director, or designee, shall review the

Grievance to determine whether sufficient grounds exist to find that the

Appointing Authority's decision was reasonable and in compliance with these

rules.


38/45

b. The Human Resources Director or designee shall review any and all

information necessary for an appropriate review, including requesting additional

information from the employee/Grievant and/or the Appointing Authority. Both

the employee/Grievant and the Appointing Authority are required to cooperate

in this process.

c. The Human Resources Director or designee shall issue a written decision within

ten (10) business days from receipt of the Grievance. This time period may be

extended by agreement of the employee/Grievant and the Appointing Authority.

d. The Appointing Authoritys decision shall be presumed correct and the scope of

the Human Resources Directors or designees review shall be limited to a

review of the reasonableness of the Appointing Authoritys decision and

compliance with these rules. The employee/Grievant shall have the burden of

proof by a preponderance of the evidence as to any disputed issue of fact and

overcoming the presumption of the reasonableness of the Appointing

Authoritys decision. The Human Resources Director's or designee's written

decision shall address all issues raised in the Grievance. If the decision is to

reverse or modify the Appointing Authority's decision, the decision shall outline

all actions the Appointing Authority must take in order to resolve the

Grievance. If the decision is to affirm the Appointing Authority's decision, the

decision must advise the employee that the decision is final.

5. Administrative Hearing Requested:

a. If the employee/Grievant requests a hearing, it will be conducted by a Hearing

Officer appointed by the County Manager in consultation with the County

Attorney and the Human Resources Director. In addition to any other

qualifications deemed necessary or appropriate by the County Manager, the

Hearing Officer will have experience in conducting administrative hearings and


39/45

preparing written decisions. The Hearing Officer is authorized to make all

procedural decisions relative to pre-hearing matters and conduct of the hearing.

The Human Resources Director or designee shall be available to the Hearing

Officer to perform the administrative matters relative to the hearing.

b. The Hearing Officer will promptly schedule the administrative hearing, giving

consideration to the complexity of the issues involved and the schedules of the

participants. The Hearing Officer will make a good faith effort to schedule the

hearing within twenty (20) business days after receipt of the Grievance. The

participants shall be notified in writing of all matters regarding the hearing

process.

c. The participants in the hearing process include the employee/Grievant, the

employee's representative, if any, the Appointing Authority, the County

Attorney or designee acting as the Appointing Authority's representative, and

any other individual deemed necessary by the Hearing Officer.

d. The Human Resources Director or designee will be responsible for advising all

participants, including the Hearing Officer, about the Grievance process and the

applicable policies, procedures and rules.

e. The employee/Grievant and the Appointing Authority shall exchange exhibits

and witness lists seven (7) business days prior to the hearing and rebuttal

exhibits and witness lists three (3) business days prior to the hearing. The

requesting party will be responsible for ensuring the appearance of an approved

witness that is not a County employee.

f. The procedures for the conduct of the hearing shall be informal and the rules of

evidence and civil procedure shall not be strictly applied. All testimony shall be

provided under oath. The Hearing Officer may receive or reject evidence and

testimony and administer oaths. Witnesses and exhibits will be approved based


40/45

on their relevance to the issues raised in the Grievance and hearing efficiency.

Hearsay shall be allowed. The hearing shall be closed to the public unless the

employee/Grievant asks for an open hearing and the Appointing Authority

agrees. If the Appointing Authority does not agree to a public hearing, the

employee/Grievant may request the Hearing Officer to open the hearing to the

public. The Hearing Officer will rule on that request after considering the

interests of both parties. The hearing will last no more than one (1) business

day, unless otherwise directed by the Hearing Officer.

g. Neither party is entitled to formal discovery. All appropriate County records

pertaining to the employee and/or relevant to the issues raised in the Grievance

shall be made available for the use of the Hearing Officer, the

employee/Grievant, and the Appointing Authority. The Hearing Officer has no

authority to issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses. If a witness

who is not a County employee is unable or refuses to attend the hearing, the

Hearing officer may accept a deposition, affidavit or an offer of proof and

rebuttal offer of proof in lieu of testimony. The County will cooperate with the

employee/Grievant to secure the attendance at the hearing of County employees

whom the employee/Grievant reasonably lists as witnesses. If the County

believes the County employee(s) listed as witnesses are not necessary or so

numerous as to be burdensome and/or impractical, the County may request the

Hearing Officer to review and decide the witnesses who will be required to

attend. If the Hearing Officer determines that attendance of a County employee

is necessary, the Hearing Officer may order the County employee to attend.

This order shall be enforced by the appropriate Appointing Authority.

h. The scope of the hearing will be limited to a review of the reasonableness of the

Appointing Authority's decision and the underlying facts. The

employee/Grievant shall have the burden of proof by a preponderance of the

evidence as to any disputed issue of fact and overcoming the presumption of the


41/45

reasonableness of the Appointing Authoritys decision. The employee/Grievant

shall present his/her case first.

i. At the hearing, the employee/Grievant may appear in person with or without

representation. If the employee/Grievant chooses to have an attorney

representative, that will be at the employee's expense. If the employee/Grievant

chooses to be represented by an attorney, the employee must notify the Human

Resources Director within five (5) business days after the filing of the

Grievance. By entering an appearance on behalf of the employee or the County,

each counsel agrees to be prepared to commence the hearing within the

schedule set by the Hearing Officer and to proceed expeditiously once the

hearing has begun.

j. The hearing will be electronically recorded as deemed appropriate by the

Hearing Officer. Either the employee/Grievant or the Appointing Authority

may request that the hearing be recorded andtranscribed by a court reporter.The party requesting a court reporter shall be obligated to pay the reporter's fee.

If the hearing is recorded by a court reporter, each party shall bear the cost of

obtaining a transcript.

k. No later than ten (10) business days after the conclusion of the hearing, the

Hearing Officer shall issue a two-part Decision consisting of:

1) findings of fact; and

2) a finding that affirms the Appointing Authority's decision, that modifies the

Appointing Authority's decision by imposing a less severe Adverse Action,

or that reverses the Appointing Authority's decision.

l. In no event may the decision impose a more severe Adverse Action than that

imposed initially by the Appointing Authority.


42/45

m. If the Hearing Officer's decision is to reverse or modify the Appointing

Authority's decision, the decision may provide for a less severe Adverse Action

and/or an award of appropriate remedial measures. Such measures shall be

limited to reinstatement of the employee/Grievant to the employee's former job

or grade/pay, payment of back wages, and reinstatement of benefits.

n. The Hearing Officer's decision is final and not subject to further internal review

or appeal. Review of the final decision may be requested under Rule 106 of the

Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure by either party. The employee waives any

de novo judicial review of the underlying issues.

VIII. PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS:

A. Purpo