https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
    • Latest videos
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com

Smart Cities & Technology


GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY/Policies and education solve e-mail woes

GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY/Policies and education solve e-mail woes

Computer policies should clearly identify appropriate e-mail use. In light of recent reports about e-mail misuse by local government officials and employees,
  • Written by Dale Bowen and Bryan Gold
  • 1st May 2001

Computer policies should clearly identify appropriate e-mail use.

In light of recent reports about e-mail misuse by local government officials and employees, cities and counties should make sure that they have developed computer policies that clearly identify appropriate e-mail use. More importantly, local governments need to educate elected officials and employees about those policies to ensure that e-mail systems are not abused.

Clearwater, Fla., has experienced widely publicized incidents of e-mail abuse. In 1999, the acting information technology director resigned following allegations that he used a private e-mail account to send sexually provocative statements to a city employee. Early in 2000, the supervisor of the solid waste department was accused of racial discrimination because he e-mailed a questionable joke to a co-worker. The incidents touched off internal investigations and led to a series of revisions of the city’s e-mail policy.

Even so, in October 2000, the city’s planning and development administrator was forced to resign after using the city’s computer system to send e-mails containing improper jokes and conversations about his private storage business. As a result, the St. Petersburg Times requested that the planning administrator and the assistant city manager (a recipient of the off-color jokes) release e-mail records from the previous year.

Before giving the records to the newspaper, city officials allowed the men to remove personal e-mail. The newspaper sued, arguing that state law classifies all e-mails sent and received on city computers and read by city employees as public records.

Clearwater’s struggle with its computer policy is not unique. A recent survey conducted by PTI and the International City/County Management Association indicates that 61 percent of the responding jurisdictions have or plan to create an e-mail use policy to regulate employees’ use of e-mail. Local government e-mail use policies should address:

  • Message content. E-mail messages should contain information related only to government business. Messages that contain sexually explicit materials, obscene and discriminatory language or solicitation for commerical ventures or religious causes should be prohibited. Employees should not use their government e-mail addresses in connection with private online portals, chat rooms, bulletin boards or to receive personal material, such as, but not limited to, information on stocks and bank records. If the e-mail system is used for sending personal messages, the employee waives any claims to privacy.

  • Public records. Employees must realize that, even when a message is “deleted,” it can be re-created. Therefore, no messages are considered private. E-mail should not be used to transmit confidential information without advice from the city or county counsel.

  • After crafting clear rules for e-mail use, local governments should educate all officials and employees about the rules. In San Diego, for example, employees are informed that electronic records are subject to the mandatory public disclosure requirements of the California Public Records Act. “E-mail is subject to all the same laws, policies and practices that apply to other means of communication, such as the telephone and paper documents,” says Dianah Neff, deputy city manager and CIO for San Diego.

    To educate its employees and officials, San Diego offers two-hour quarterly sessions about e-mail and Internet use that new employees must attend. The city attorney’s office trains elected officials as part of their new orientation training.

    In addition to providing the sessions, the city has posted a PowerPoint presentation with the information on its intranet, and it has created a video on e-mail etiquette that can be checked out and viewed at any time. As a result of training, San Diego has seen only minimal misuse of the e-mail system or the Internet, Neff says.

    Bowen is director of online services for Washington, D.C.-based Public Technology Inc.(PTI), and Gold is the organization’s director of communications.

Tags: Smart Cities & Technology

Most Recent


  • broadband
    Funding fiber broadband: The path to growing communities
    The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) presents communities with the ability to build broadband infrastructure that has been shown to deliver substantial and long-lasting economic benefits by creating jobs and attracting businesses as well as improving the quality of life for the people who live there. Local leaders need to be proactive and engaged […]
  • CRM
    CRM beyond sales: How government CRM can improve citizen engagement and satisfaction
    Private companies know the value of customer relationship management and CRM workflows. For anyone new to CRM, it is a technology that helps companies manage relationships with current and potential customers. CRM systems help companies manage customer relationships throughout the entire customer life cycle, including sales, ecommerce, marketing and more. CRMs help organizations focus on […]
  • heat
    Taking on the heat with tech: Cities create chief heat officers
    Usually, my writing has focused on all things tech leadership in local government. And if the term “heat” was ever mentioned, it was directed towards either IT or the CIO. Given all the weather tragedies across the globe it is time we simply stop just talking about it and start doing something about it. This […]
  • Amid digitization of public infrastructure, cybersecurity is increasingly a challenge
    The digitization of public infrastructure is a double-edged sword: While technology can streamline workflows and make systems run more efficiently, it’s also vulnerable to digital threats.  “The integration of new technologies into the public transit industry has resulted in improved service offerings to customers. But while these new services provide important information and conveniences to […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • North Texas alliance partners with Marketplace.city on smart government solutions
  • Harris County deploys next-generation security in 150 public buildings
  • Prioritizing rapid restore leads to stronger ransomware attack recovery
  • Today’s infrastructure needs greater than roads and bridges - It’s time to face our digital connectiveness

White papers


2000+ Government Customers Reveal a Roadmap to Fleet Management Success

17th August 2022

Modern American Perspectives on Law Enforcement

14th July 2022

Reimagine the Employee Experience

12th July 2022
view all

Events


PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

Funding fiber broadband: The path to growing communities dlvr.it/SWsW6f

18th August 2022
AmerCityCounty

Report: Traffic fatalities from motor vehicle accidents increased by 7% in the first quarter dlvr.it/SWsJFc

18th August 2022
AmerCityCounty

Biden: Inflation Reduction Act represents ‘one of the most significant laws in our history’ dlvr.it/SWpMDZ

17th August 2022
AmerCityCounty

CRM beyond sales: How government CRM can improve citizen engagement and satisfaction dlvr.it/SWp9lg

17th August 2022
AmerCityCounty

Taking on the heat with tech: Cities create chief heat officers dlvr.it/SWp77d

17th August 2022
AmerCityCounty

2000+ government customers reveal a roadmap to fleet management success dlvr.it/SWng6T

17th August 2022
AmerCityCounty

Here are 12 of America’s most walkable cities with vacancies for renters dlvr.it/SWlBkd

16th August 2022
AmerCityCounty

Amid digitization of public infrastructure, cybersecurity is increasingly a challenge dlvr.it/SWh6Ww

15th August 2022

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X