Policy No. 0100-031 - Correspondence to Mayor & Council

March 10, 2015Pages 71–746 sections

A copy of the existing policy regarding the handling of email, mail, and media correspondence to Mayor and Council.

Effective Date: January 23, 2007

First page of the policy manual document regarding Correspondence to Mayor & Council.

POLICY TITLE: Correspondence to Mayor & Council	POLICY #: 0100-031
AUTHORITY: Administrative	EFFECTIVE DATE: January 23, 2007
ISSUED BY: Director of Corporate Administration	REVIEW SCHEDULE: 2 – 3 years
	APPROVED BY: Council
DATE ISSUED: January 25, 2007	DATE APPROVED: January 23, 2007

PURPOSE:

To establish a policy for receiving correspondence to Mayor and Council.

DEFINITIONS:

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POLICY:

Page 71–74

1.0 E-MAIL CORRESPONDENCE

1.1 All correspondence to the Mayor and Council via e-mail shall be conducted through the Town's official Council e-mail and shall go directly to the Municipal Clerk or Assistant Clerk.

1.2 Any e-mail received by the Mayor and Council or an individual Council member that is not addressed through the official Council e-mail but is a matter having to do with the Town shall be forwarded to the Municipal Clerk or Assistant Clerk to be responded to or sent to a meeting of Council if necessary.

1.3 E-mails addressed to the Mayor and Council, or to an individual Council member shall be circulated to all members of the Council in the week in which they are received – by the Municipal Clerk or Assistant Clerk – and any replies thereto in the week in which they are sent out.

1.4 If the matter(s) addressed in the e-mail are administrative in nature and conforms to Policy, Staff may automatically process and follow up on the request instead of referring it to a meeting of Council.

Second page of the policy document continuing the E-mail Correspondence section and starting the Mail Correspondence section.

1.5 If the matter(s) addressed in the e-mail must be addressed by the Mayor and Council, the e-mail shall be directed to the Mayor and Council with a request that they respond to the correspondence.

1.6 Responses to e-mails made by Mayor and Council or by any individual Council member shall be forwarded to the Assistant Clerk to be entered into the Correspondence log.

1.7 Responses to routine matters shall be made within two weeks of receiving the correspondence. An extension may be granted for those matters which require an extensive amount of research for the response.

1.8 Responses to correspondence that requires Council consideration shall be made within two weeks after the Council meeting for which the correspondence is received.

1.9 E-mail correspondence shall be retained by the Town until a response has been made and entered into the Correspondence log by the Assistant Clerk.

1.10 Where possible and appropriate, correspondence received via e-mail will be responded to in kind and a paper copy will be maintained for records.

Page 71–74

2. MAIL CORRESPONDENCE

2.1 All correspondence to the Mayor and Council via mail shall be sent to the Town Hall and shall go directly to the Municipal Clerk or Assistant Clerk to be responded to or sent to Council, unless specifically addressed to an individual member of Council.

2.2 Any mail specifically addressed to an individual member of Council shall be sent to the individual member of Council addressed on the correspondence.

2.3 If mail is responded to by Town staff, that response shall be forwarded to the Municipal Clerk or Assistant Clerk who will record the response in the Correspondence log. Copies of any correspondence sent will be placed in the Council correspondence binder.

2.4 All Correspondence received by mail shall be entered into the Correspondence log by the Municipal Clerk or Assistant Clerk.

Third page of the policy document covering General Correspondence, Media Correspondence, and the start of the Correspondence Log.

Page 71–74

3. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE

3.1 Any Correspondence (mail or e-mail) which requires Council action shall be brought forward on the next agenda of the Council provided it is received prior to 4:00pm on the Wednesday preceding the Council meeting.

Page 71–74

4. MEDIA CORRESPONDENCE

4.1 All relevant media requests via phone, fax, e-mail or mail are directed to the Chief Administrative Officer who then forwards it to the Mayor and Council. Phone requests would be forwarded via a summary email from the CAO to the Mayor and Council.

4.2 Staff response to any media enquiries should be "Our Chief Administrative Officer___(name)___________ is the person you need to contact. Let me transfer you." The CAO should be given warning as to who is on the line and what they are calling about if the information was offered by the media representative. If further information about the enquiry was not offered staff are not to ask to avoid accidentally providing information on behalf on the Town of View Royal.

4.3 All communication with any media personnel by staff (must be preauthorized) the Mayor, Council or the Chief Administrative Officer, or in his absence, then by his or her designate.

4.4 Advisory Committee members when approached by the media must clearly identify that they are presenting their personal views only.

4.5 Routine press releases by the Fire Department do not need preauthorization.

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5. CORRESPONDENCE LOG

1.1 Information entered into the mail log includes:

1.1.1 date received 1.1.2 name of sender 1.1.3 type of correspondence (i.e. fax, letter, e-mail) 1.1.4 subject 1.1.5 individual who correspondence was given to 1.1.6 summary of response/location of response 1.1.7 date response given 1.1.8 if further follow up is necessary

Fourth page of the policy document concluding the Correspondence Log and providing administrative details.

1.1.9 information of follow up action completed

ATTACHMENTS:

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DISTRIBUTION:

Electronic file G:\ drive policy manual.

RECORD OF AMENDMENTS

REVIEW DATE	AMENDED	OUTCOME	MOTION #

Page 71–74

Extracted from: 2015 03 10 Committee of the Whole Agenda