CLERK SERVICES

The Office of the City Clerk (OCC) is a division within the Legislative Department that provides direct services to the City Council for its legislation process, and serves as custodian and repository for the City's official records.

In addition to the Director's (City Clerk's) Unit, there are four specific sections, or units, within the OCC. All units provide services to both internal and external customers, except Records Management whose only customers are City departments and agencies.

Director's Unit (City Clerk)
The City Clerk, as the Division Director, provides overall management for OCC and its programs and initiatives, and provides direction and leadership for the division's management team and staff. The City Clerk fulfills many statutory obligations as specified in the Seattle Municipal Code, the City Charter and Washington rules and laws for local agencies.

Other specific responsibilities of City Clerk include:

• Serve as liaison between the City and King County Records and Elections, coordinating placement of City measures on ballots, and monitoring election costs
• Coordinate the City's charter amendment process (both citizen- and City-initiated amendments) and the processes for citizen initiatives and referenda.
• Maintain an up-to-date Succession Plan for the division

Council Services Unit
The primary responsibility of the Council Services Unit is to coordinate the flow of legislation and manage the legislative process from the point of submission for Council's consideration to final passage.

The Council Services Unit is also responsible for:

• Serving as parliamentarians for the Council, reading all legislation into the official record at public Full Council meetings, and managing the Council's central meetings calendar.
• Clerking the Council's Committees of the Whole, the Council's Special Budget Committee, and other special meetings and/or committees of the Council.
• Advising Councilmembers and their staff regarding the OPMA's applicability to their meetings.
• Providing training to new Councilmembers and Legislative Department staff in legislative, committee, and meeting processes.
• Ensuring the Council Rules and Procedures are current with existing laws and other regulations and that they are clearly written for ease of use by Councilmembers, staff, and members of the public.

Seattle Municipal Archives Unit
The City's archival records form the institutional memory of City government and document the historical interaction between government and the citizens of Seattle. The records are a knowledge-based resource that help ensure the property and business rights of City government, and provide evidence of the City's core functions and responsibilities. The Archives provides researchers with a textual and visual link to the history and activities of City government.

The Archives acquires, preserves, and makes accessible to City agencies, scholars, students, and the general public those records of enduring historical and enterprise business value created and/or received by City agencies and elected officials. These records, dating from 1869 to the present, include nearly 10,000 linear feet of textual records, photographs and negatives, maps, architectural drawings, motion picture film and videotape, audiotape, and published documents, as well as, digital images and electronic records.

The Municipal Archives is also responsible for:

• supporting the growing research needs of the public and City agencies;
• increasing public awareness of the City's rich historical resources;
• presenting exhibits, classroom resources, publications, and other outreach to multiple audiences;
• managing the vast photographic documentation, both still and moving, created by the City; and
• ensuring the continuity of the City's political and cultural memory.

Information Management Unit
The Information Management Unit organizes and provides access to the City's official records from the City's establishment to the present, including legislation, deeds to City property, annexation records, public works and consultant contracts, bonds for officials, claims against the City, campaign finance filings, adopted rules of City departments, the Seattle Municipal Code, oaths of office, City department annual reports, and domestic partnership registrations.

The unit provides reference and research assistance on these records using a variety of media: paper, audio recordings, electronic files, scanned image files, microfiche, and on-line databases. Customers make inquiries daily by phone, in-person, and via e-mail.

In order to provide information to the public we:

• manage over 50 databases
• maintain a searchable web site for presentation of City records
• catalog and index permanent records
• format and present the Seattle Municipal Code online
• coordinate with Legislative Department Central Staff and Council to ensure quality and consistency of online information
• set standards for submission of electronic records to the Office of the City Clerk
• support the Archives in database management and preservation and presentation of digital records.

City Records Management Program
Established by ordinance in 2001, the City Records Management Program (CRMP) provides leadership and direction to City departments by developing practical applications to support the effective, efficient, and economical management of the City's public records from creation to ultimate disposition in accordance with City policy and all applicable state and federal records-management laws and regulations.

In addition, CRMP staff CRMP staff offer training to City staff on retention and destruction issues. Most initial training focuses on retention of public records and the creation and use of state-approved retention schedules.

Records Management Program staff are also responsible for:

• ensuring that City departments maintain City records in accordance with State and Federal laws and City policy
• training City staff on retention and destruction issues
• advising City departments on records matters
• creating and maintaining record retention schedules
• assisting with identifying vital records for City agencies

In its 2008 Work Plan, the Office of the City Clerk identified Major Initiatives to be undertaken in addition to regular responsibilities and smaller projects. These Initiatives fall into four broad categories: meeting the challenges of electronic records management and preservation; development of new services and ways to access records; refinement of existing systems and programs; and coordination of mandated activities. In many cases, these categories overlap, most significantly where issues relating to electronic records emerge in every aspect of the Office's role as the City's official recordkeeper. Following is a brief report on Major Initiatives within each unit of the Office.

Major Initiatives: the City Clerk and the Council Services Unit

Research and development of a Legislation Tracking System

This project was undertaken by Council Clerk Dunbar, and at the conclusion of 2008 the Council Clerks had inaugurated a monthly report for Council Offices and Central Staff. The report lists all legislation received by the Legislative Department, and the status thereof, until a final vote by the Council. This report format was approved of and is supported by the Council President.

Internal Local Improvement District procedures

New LID procedures were drafted in part and are awaiting an opportunity to test when a new LID process begins. No LIDs were introduced in 2008.

Major initiatives: Seattle Municipal Archives

Grants Management

The Archives managed three State-funded grants during 2008. A State Library-funded grant to preserve by digitizing and index 500 hours of City Council audio recordings dating from 1963-1975 was completed in July. A grant from the State Archives funded cleaning, preservation, and digitization of historic maps, which will be made available online. A third grant, from the Women's History Consortium, funded research and development of an exhibit and educational materials on the history of women in the Seattle Fire Department, to be completed in 2009.

Outreach and Education

An element of the Archives' mission is providing historical resources of City government to the public, including students at all levels. In the fall, the Archives added an Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition digital document collection to its web site, recounting the City's role during the AYPE and providing online resources for teachers. Online and hard-copy AYPE exhibits were also produced. An election returns web page was completed showing City officials' elections, 1870 to the present. Archives' exhibits were displayed at local sites and one-time programs at six venues during the year.

Visual Materials Management

The Photo Program created a new written collection development policy that clearly states what images the Archives collects in order to enhance program efficiency. In addition, new photo processing priorities will ensure images are made available to the public quickly and efficiently.

Major Initiatives: Information Management and Services Unit

Electronic Records Preservation

In 2007, the unit had designed and developed a system for long-term secure, durable storage of electronic records, in order to archive electronic records being transferred to the Municipal Archives from City Council and Legislative Department staff. In 2008, the unit expanded the system to import emails and email attachments in the same manner, capturing the relationships between email documents.

Audio

The IMS unit supported the Archives in transfer of 201 reel-to-reel and audio tapes to a high-quality digital format in order to preserve the records and improve access. These tapes contain 1,961 hours of archival audio recordings of Council meetings covering the years 1974-1977. The meetings consider important environmental issues such as solid waste management and shoreline development, along with other significant topics from that era. These audio recordings were catalogued by regular staff, college interns, and TES employees.

Major Initiatives: City Records Management Program

Participate in the Citywide Groupwise-to-Exchange Migration project

CRMP staff served on the city's Core Team to develop the City-wide email policy, the retention and purging policies, and overall records management issues associated with the migration of GroupWise email accounts to Outlook. CRMP also developed employee training sessions for City staff to cleaning out their GroupWise Archives prior to the move, and for the move to Office 2007.

Work with City Personnel to add CRMP records management training to the curriculum for the mandatory new employee and new supervisor orientation classes-

CRMP staff succeeded in their attempts for their training to be recognized by the city's Training and Development Unit as a necessary element of the New Supervisor Orientation (NSO) sessions. Work is still being done to add CRMP to the New Employee Orientation sessions.

The following statistics and statistical narrative section is provided to capture the volume and variety of work accomplished by the Office of the City Clerk each year. This information is presented grouped by work unit.

CLERK SERVICES

Initiatives, Referenda, Charter Amendments, and Ballot Measures

• Citizen Initiative #97 - Seattle Divest From War

- officially filed March 25; 17,968 valid signatures required by September 27
- court order issued on September 10 stating "…exceeds the scope of the initiative power under the city charter…" and declared the initiative invalid and enjoined from being placed on any ballot
- would have prohibited City Retirement from investing in companies that do business in the Middle East.

• Citizen Initiative #98 - No Spitting

- officially filed July 1; rejected as to form July 9 as it was not presented in ordinance format
- would have repealed existing ordinances and expanded prohibitions related to spit and expectorants

• Citizen Referendum #1- Coalition to stop the Seattle Bag Tax

- Ordinance 122752 would have taken effect August 29
- Referendum filed August 25
- 14,374 valid signatures required; petitioners submitted 22,252 signatures
- King County Elections issued Certificate of Sufficiency September 16, having validated 15,099 signatures
- this referendum generated seven written requests from petition signers, requesting their names be withdrawn from the petition
- this validated referendum petition places Ordinance 122752 before the voters; the Council will likely schedule it for the 2009 primary or general election ballot

• Proposition 1 - Pike Place Market Levy

- appeared on November general election ballot voters passed by 61.18 %

• Proposition #2 - Parks Levy

- appeared on November general election ballot voters passed by 58.87 %

• There were no charter amendments proposed in 2008

SEATTLE MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES

From a purely statistical profile, the Archives enjoyed a very successful year in 2008. The following places the reported statistics in programmatic context.

1. Number and Volume of Accessions

The number of accessions and the physical amount of material acquired during 2008 approximates the annual average experienced over the past six years. This steady acquisition is appropriate for a mature program.

2. Reference Requests

Reference Request figures include direct contact with Archives staff made via telephone, email, letter/fax, and in person visits. The 2008 figure represents a 6.5 percent increase over 2006 and 2007. The Archives tracks both users and collections used. The largest percentage of users within the City come from Legislative, Law and the Executive; the largest user groups in the public sector, other than the general public, are students and teachers from colleges and universities, businesses, the media, and law firms. The records receiving the highest use are in the broad categories of Legislative, Engineering and Parks. Land use, building history, legislative history and neighborhood history are the most heavily researched topics.

High resolution images are available online in the photo database and high resolution zoning maps for 1923, 1947, and 1973 are available in the maps database. Given the volume of hits to the photo and maps databases, it is safe to assume that many users access the Archives online with no direct contact with Archives staff. Archives staff began work on cataloging and reformatting 16 mm film in 2005. In 2008 copies of 46 films were requested. Several requests were for a copy of a film related to AYPE, "Norway Day," but others related to neighborhood history and an agency history of SPU.

3. Historical Photographs Scanned

The addition of 7242 scanned images during 2008 is nearly three times the average annual number over the previous eight years. The increase is attributable to the use of work-study students and volunteers.

4. Photographs Indexed

Of the 27,000 records indexed, approximately 20,000 were part of ImageBank, the FFD photo database transferred to the Archives when the City Photography program was abolished. This represents the completion of the integration of ImageBank into the Archives system.

5. Digital Images

The Digital Image program acquired 6448 photographic images from City agencies during 2008, up nearly 45 percent over 2007. Following appraisal and weeding, 5000 images were added to the photograph database. The number of digital images and historical images added to the database (12,000+) represents over a ten percent increase in images in the database and the highest number since the first year of photo scanning.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND SERVICES

The above table depicts the total number of documents filed with the Office of the City Clerk and entered into databases, most of which are available to the public online. The comparison between 2006 and 2008 shows that these numbers are relatively stable from year to year, as most of the records are filed under statutory requirements.

In addition to serving as parliamentarian for the above meetings, staff in the Office of the City Clerk coordinate meeting agendas, public notice, recording, and otherwise ensure that Council meetings are conducted according to the State Open Public Meetings Act.

The below statistics show the number of hits on the online databases managed by this unit. The totals represent the number of searches and the total number of direct hyperlinks to specific records in a database.

Note about web log statistics in this report : searches from 341 IP ranges were excluded from statistics in this report. These blocks of address were identified as being used by bots or crawlers. Network providers were not excluded, so bots using dynamic proxy agents would not be excluded by this process. Removing these records from the logs reduced the number of database hits by nearly 50%. Because 2008 is the first year for which these records were excluded, comparison between years will only be meaningful from 2008 forward. Even then, as the Internet environment changes, it will be difficult to positively link all changes in Web activity outside the City firewall (the non-City users) to changes in use by individuals.

CITY RECORDS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

The CRMP Training Program consists of six classes and in 2008, we held at least one training per month, each session was held at least 2 times during the year. Our curriculum is: Basic Records Management, You've Got Mail, Electronic Records Management , Vital Records and Disaster Recovery, Auditing Your Records Management Practices, and Top 5 Issues in Records Management

*stats for 2006 not included as the departments requesting specific training differ on a yearly basis

RETENTION SCHEDULES

The CRMP is responsible for ensuring that Departments are meeting any recordkeeping requirements as determined by the State Archives or Federal/State laws. We do this by creating a retention schedule for each department.

Retention schedules are developed through a series of meetings with staff of the department. These are treated as interviews where we talk with the individual about the function, the records created, received, etc. to meet the function and any other specifics about the records.

Number of Schedules created:

PROJECTS/RM ASSISTANCE

In addition to retention schedules, CRMP staff also meets with departments on projects involving their records. These include such projects as: assisting to develop a new file system, determining if records should be imaged, helping with file clean up days, general information meetings to alert management about records management issues, internal meetings, clean up days, grants management, etc.

Number of meetings for RM related projects:

Archives Supplemental Narrative

Statistics and narrative found in the other sections of this report provide an outline of many of the major accomplishments of 2008. The following is a brief look at a few projects not previously listed. A more detailed look at the Archives' year can be found in its 2008 Annual Report.

1. Archives Gazette

The Gazette was first published in the Fall of 1999 as a two-page newsletter reporting on the activities and collection of the Seattle Municipal Archives. In 2008, Archives staff determined to increase the newsletter's scope and content and after a brief planning phase, it was expanded to four pages. The first four-page edition was published in the Fall of the year and received an enthusiastic welcome. It will be published on a quarterly basis.

2. Archives Informational Exhibit

In addition to the AYPE exhibit, a new exhibit was created in 2008 to showcase the activities and collections of the Archives. This exhibit is used when the Archives has an information table at conferences and other public programs.

3. ImageBank Indexing

ImageBank was a digital photograph database collection maintained by the City Photographers until 2004 when it was transferred to the Archives. In the ensuing years, the 80,000 images were appraised and weeded, the database was submitted to quality control, and ImageBank was integrated into the Archives database. This long-term project came to an end in 2008 with the final subject indexing of 20,000 images.

4. Mayor Wes Uhlman Records

In 2006, the University of Washington returned 319 cubic feet of records from Mayors Clinton, Braman, and Uhlman. These records were not arranged and described, so the Archives had to undertake this task. The Clinton and Braman records were processed during 2007. The Uhlman records, well over two-thirds of the original accession, were completed in 2008 and entered in the Archives collection and folder databases. This historical collection documents a volatile and culturally important era in Seattle history.

5. Moving Images: Videotape and Film

The Archives initiated a project to appraise a massive amount of videotape and to plan for its proper cataloging and preservation. This is a long-term project and will result in a systematic approach to handling this medium. Use of moving images increased in 2008, testifying to the value of transferring moving images from analog to digital format. Over 50 dvds of historical films were requested from the Archives in 2008; almost one third of those requests were for the film "Norway Day" due to preparations for celebration of the AYPE centennial and the remaining were largely from independent film makers or videographers wanting contextual footage for their productions.

6. Flickr

In April, 2008, the Archives established a site on Flickr, a popular web 2.0 site especially geared toward visual images. Since then, the Archives has uploaded 539 images in 14 "sets" or categories. The images received total views of 92,776 and users have left comments on 114 of the images. Our presence on Flickr has led to 712 users linking directly from that site to the Archives website, an increase in photo use on selected blogs and local and regional websites, and weekly use of an Archives image by The Stranger.

7. Web Site Improvements

The statistics for traffic on the Archives website show high volumes of requests for the outreach and help pages; issues of the "Gazette" had the most downloads, followed by help pages on building research, city officials and city symbols. Exhibits and the digital document library continue to be frequently requested, with Hoovervilles, City Halls, WPA and AYPE topping the lists.

Information Management and Services Unit Supplemental Narrative

1) Reference Services and Online Databases Ongoing Improvements

A major focus of the Information Management unit in 2008 was increasing collaboration and communication across work units in the Office of the City Clerk. The IM unit established a new "Reference Group" that includes all Clerk and Archives staff who provide reference and conduct research for the public. The group meets regularly to discuss emerging research topics, technical issues, and ways to improve service. To facilitate sharing knowledge and resources across units, we created an internal Web portal related to reference services. Several enhancements to our online search site were suggested by the group and have been implemented. Examples include Web design changes and new research guides, as well as an online catalog of the Archives reference collection in the public research room.

A second focus was enhance access to the records of the Clerk and Archives:

• To provide more flexibility to customers and to reduce paper waste, the office purchased a new fiche scanner for the public research room that allows filmed records to be scanned and saved to PDF format.
• All legislation is now scanned to PDF after being returned from the Mayor's Office. These records are emailed to staff and customers on request, saving paper and staff time making multiple copies. Links will be added from our database records to the scanned images so that the public can access these image files via our Web site. In addition, the scans will serve as the source for our preservation microfilming.
• In response to requests from Law and DPD, we modified some design elements of our online database search site and began posting Seattle Municipal Code Advance Sheets online.
• The online audio and film databases were modified to accommodate hyperlinks to digital media files. Sample audio clips have been entered into the database, and in the future, digitized film and audio will be available to the public via our online databases.

Audio Preservation and Access

The IM unit and Archives share the goal of having one searchable database for all audio, historical and current, with increased accessibility through streaming. In 2008 the IM unit helped coordinate and implement the migration of archival audio tapes to digital format and the cataloging those records (see Major Initiatives, Retrospective Audio). We have also taken several steps in integrating new digital audio recordings into the Archives: we helped establish procedures for digital recording of off-site Council and committee meetings in digital format and entering them into the Archives database; we set up training to multiple staff on use of the audio playback equipment for retrieval of audio files off of reel-to-reel tapes; and we setup software and training of additional staff for converting digital audio from proprietary format to a readable wav format. These steps also furthered our goals of cross-training and collaboration across units.

Aggressive volume reduction of Clerk's records; support Archives filming

Two long-term projects to create microfilm backup and provide online searching of certain series of permanent records were continued in 2008:

1) Several hundred Reports and Studies that had been filed as Comptroller/Clerk Files were filmed and entered into the CF database.

2) The project to preserve unengrossed council bills and enter them into our legislative database is approximately 50% complete.

Establish procedures for periodic archiving of SMC and Land Use Maps

The full SMC is now being periodically accessioned into the Municipal Archives. The digital copies will in the future be incorporated into the department's digital repository (see Major Initiatives section, Electronic Records Preservation). Having historical snapshots of the codified SMC available in full will greatly aid in legislative research. The Information Manager has been participating in meetings with Law, DPD, and Central Staff regarding a major revision to the Land Use Map. With DPD GIS staff we have established a plan for archiving and updating the new maps when the revision occurs.

Civil Service Commission and Public Safety Civil Service Commission Election

The IM unit administered these elections, which are conducted for the City by the City Clerk's Office every 3 years. The IM unit solicited candidates throughout the City from 9600+ eligible employees, coordinated the mailing of the election material and ballots, and received and validated returned ballots. The count was forwarded to the City Clerk who certified the winners in both of the elections. Steven Jewell was the winner for the Civil Service Commission and Joel Nark was the winner in the Public Safety Civil Service Commission. They are both serving a second term for their respective commissions.

Planning / development

Our most significant development project in 2008 was the development of a system for capturing email into DSpace (see Major Initiatives, Electronic Document Repository).

Two other major projects were completed by IM staff in 2008: First, html pages using XSLT transforms were created to render XML pages on the Archives Web site. The XML format allows sharing Archives records with other agencies and improves display and access to the public. Second, the IM unit developed a tool for processing Web server logs that anonymize user data, so that the access and search logs may be retained for analysis without retaining the IP addresses of users.

The IM unit has ongoing responsibility to plan for digitization projects and digital storage. In 2008, the unit assisted IT in defining storage needs to accommodate our anticipated growth, including digitization of audio and motion pictures, for the next three years. Other development activities include ongoing modification of online databases and the Web interface. These enhancements and improvements are undertaken in response to user requests, to increase efficiency, and to improve public access to records.

City Records Management Program Supplemental Narrative

The CRMP held 12 training sessions and trained over 233 City employees on various aspects of records management. In addition to these regularly scheduled sessions, CRMP staff also spoke at staff meetings and other events reaching an additional 200 City employees.

The CRMP assisted the Parks Department, Office of Arts in Cultural Affairs and Seattle Municipal Archives in securing grant funds for scanning and preserving records. The grants are slated to terminate in June 2009. During 2007/8, the CRMP worked with OACA and Parks to identify records to be scanned, the end result for OACA and Parks will be electronic copies of paper records for use in case the paper records become inaccessible. For the Municipal Archives, dozens of maps of City infrastructure will be cleaned for long term preservation and scanned for electronic access.

The CRMP helped the CityRecordsCenter to implement destruction by taking over the task in 2008. The result was the destruction of several thousand boxes that had been sitting in the RecordsCenter for several years, but the agency would never sign on destruction. The new procedures include 3 notices being sent to the agency before a final phone call. If the agency does not respond, the next step would be to start returning the boxes to the agency, we received destruction confirmation from all but 3 departments, and they are working on theirs a bit at a time. One agency had spent over $18,000 on storing records past their retention period (some were 13 years past their required retention).

The CRMP is also assisting the CRC by developing a database to track records sent to storage. The database, developed by CRMP and City Clerk staff, will eventually replace the Excel spreadsheet currently used. It is also the intent of the program to use the Database for users to see what they have in storage and when it is eligible for destruction for a more proactive approach to records destruction.

CRMP staff continued their RIM education by attending Stewardship of Digital Assets training in October 2008 (Gail Snow) and the Annual Conference of ARMA (Association of Records Managers and Administrators) in October 2008 (Andrea Bettger and Jennifer Winkler).

In addition, CRMP staff participated on UW Educational Outreach Advisory Board to develop new program at UW for certificate in E-discovery (Jennifer Winkler), participated in review and revision of the Local Government Common Records Schedule and Local Government General Records Retention Schedule for State Archives (Jennifer Winkler meetings, Gail Snow and Andrea Bettger review of revisions, comments, etc), and participated in panel presentation on Electronic Records Management along with National Archives and Records Administration staff and UW Records Management Services staff (in person seminar had over 100 participants, web seminar had over 70 callers) (Jennifer Winkler).