Thousand Oaks: keeping a records management program cost-effective, secure and transparent

Industry

Government

Challenge

A city government maintains a robust records management program that is cost-effective, secure and transparent.

Value

• one point of contact for both shredding and records management services
• the highest standards of security, professionalism and accountability
• personal connections and specialized tools that make managing their RIM program easier

Guardians of public record

Thousand Oaks is nestled against the Santa Monica Mountains in southern California’s Ventura County, between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. With a population of close to 130,000 it’s an active community where people live, raise their families, work and thrive.

From waste removal and street cleaning to city planning and building permits - the city government of Thousand Oaks provides a wide variety of services to its citizens. Those services generate a considerable amount of records, which in turn have to be classified, used, accessed, retained and eventually disposed. Because information generated by a city is considered a part of the public record, it can therefore be requested by any citizen.

Laura Maguire, Deputy City Clerk, is in charge of Thousand Oaks’ centralized record and information management (RIM) program. The City Clerk Department has to function both as a custodian of the city’s information and a fair steward for its citizens. Traffic citations and building permits contain Personal Identifiable Information (PII) and some budget and planning documents are confidential. Ensuring that these documents, and the many other records generated by a city government, are stored, and destroyed, in a secure, compliant manner is a priority.

Functionality and security

Thousand Oaks has been an Iron Mountain records management customer since 1999. Once they added shred to the scope of services, they began to see the benefits of working with a single RIM vendor – one account, simpler contract processes, staff only need to work with and understand a single outside system. Maguire also appreciates the easy-access customer service that comes from using a single RIM vendor, “it is wonderful to know that I can just email or call my account rep …I have one guy who I can count on, and he’s very responsive.”

Maguire and her staff also use Iron Mountain’s customer self-service portal, Iron Mountain Connect™ to manage their records inventory. Regarding Iron Mountain Connect Maguire said, “it’s helpful because it’s very easy – no one wants to send a fax or get on the phone and we like that… It’s very easy to use. We can find the boxes. We can tell their status. Are they already checked out? Are they still at Iron Mountain? And we can go from there.”

The onus falls on Maguire’s office to ensure that these government documents remain both useable and accessible. Maguire and her office know that those documents are safe, protected and easy to access for the long term in a secure, offsite Iron Mountain storage facility.

Maguire appreciates the peace of mind Iron Mountain’s offsite storage ensures, “We have dedicated professionals, Iron Mountain people, who have a secure building. All of their buildings are up to code and standards set by various governing bodies, so I don’t worry about infestation, fire or flood because I know their buildings are secure.”

Keeping costs in check

Ensuring that the City Clerk Department is responsible and transparent with public funds is vital. Efficient and effective records management is a crucial aspect of keeping their spending in check. Storing public records offsite also means the real estate those records would take up, were they onsite, can be dedicated to other services that benefit the people who call Thousand Oaks home.

Maguire explains why offsite storage is the smarter, more budget-friendly choice, “The big thing is, and this is also just from a records management point of view, the real estate in your building is very expensive. You don’t want inactive files that you can’t necessarily get rid of, but need to retain, taking up valuable floor space wherever you are. So paying … whatever the fee is, just makes sense. And even the costs of the handling, and the transportation, whatever, it’s still pennies compared to what your rent costs.”

Maguire also oversees an annual records review to make sure that files that have met the end of their retention period have been routinely shredded and that no inactive, onsite files that may have fallen through the cracks are taking up valuable office space when they could be sent to storage.

Global company, local reach

Maguire and Thousand Oaks are an example of a customer getting the absolute best value from Iron Mountain. Maguire perhaps said it best, “With the partnership of Iron Mountain, we’re handling the public records responsibly and cost effectively, and we’re able to be transparent because we do have the documents well organized and accessible.”

Maguire likes, not just the convenience, but also the rapport that goes along with working with her Iron Mountain team. She has a single, direct contact to reach out to about issues or contract changes. She knows that boxes can be recalled within a single business day. She likes seeing the familiar faces of her Iron Mountain drivers.

She has built and maintains a robust RIM program and relies on the partnership with Iron Mountain to keep the foundation of that program strong.