Mayor Mike Rawlings
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings has ordered a review of a city policy that allows for the destruction of video and audio tapes of public meetings after 90 days.
The mayor asked City Manager A.C. Gonzalez to “evaluate the policy and provide the City Council with cost estimates associated with retaining these records for a longer period of time,” according to a memo Rawlings sent to the Charter Review Commission on Friday.
Rawlings, however, said he does not believe any changes to the current policy would need to be made through the charter, the city’s constitution. That’s what Charter Review Commissioner Mike Northrup proposed last month and what the Commission is expected to vote on at its final scheduled meeting on Tuesday night.
Still, Rawlings asked the Commission to “provide recommendations to the Council suggesting which Boards and Commissions should keep its records for longer than 90 days and how long those records should be kept.”
Audio and video recordings of City Council meetings are preserved, with the archive dating to 1967.
But that’s not the case with recordings of meetings of many city boards and commissions, including the Plan Commission, the Park and Recreation Board, and the Landmark Commission.
Even the Charter Review Commission is not exempt, Northrup noted in his arguments for a new retention policy.
The 16-member commission was appointed by the City Council in January to recommend possible changes to the city charter. It’s expected to present its recommendations May 21. The council will then decide which if any proposed amendments to place on the ballot in November.
The city does permanently save written minutes of meetings, but those minutes are generally not detailed.
Meetings of many city bodies are not recorded at all.
Here’s the Rawlings memo: