About local government
Local Government is the third level of government in Australia and consists of a combination of locally elected Councillors, government employees and community groups. There are 79 Councils in Victoria that operate in accordance with the Local Government Act 2020, providing services and setting regulations to manage local communities.
Recordkeeping responsibilities in local government
In Local Government, the head of a public office is usually the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Council as they are employed by government, rather than being the Mayor or other elected Councillors. The responsibility for records management ultimately resides with the CEO and is usually delegated across the Council using position descriptions, contracts, agreements and work plans.
Across Australasia, records are born and not declared at a later point in their development (unlike records, information and data management frameworks developed in the USA). This means all records from from the point of creation or capture must be managed for the duration of their retention period. Data and information are records under the Public Records Act 1973 and must be managed in line with PROV Standards, including retention and disposal authorities. As all systems and other technologies hold data, they contain records that must be lawfully managed for the duration of their retention periods.
See Councillors Records for recordkeeping information regarding Councillors.