CBRM looking to modernize out-of-date data security, records management

Cape Breton Regional Municipality is looking for ways to improve its data security and storage, which now includes stacks of boxes of paper documents in rooms at multiple locations and digital files that are subject to changing technology.

Municipal clerk Christa Dicks told council this week that CBRM's current records management policy was last amended in 2005, meaning the system is out of date and does not meet legal or regulatory requirements for privacy.

She asked council for approval to draft a new policy and to issue an expression of interest for companies that can modernize CBRM's systems.

"Implementation of a new records and information management policy is a critical step toward ensuring CBRM's documents are properly classified, easily retrievable and compliant with regulatory standards," Dicks said. "Further to this, it will assist the organization in reducing unnecessary documents, which take up physical and digital space."

The municipality does store some information digitally, but it needs to be centralized in a secure manner, she said.

Mayor Cecil Clarke said data protection is important, but CBRM also needs to be more efficient with its records management.

"We have millions of hard copies of documents in storage, so one would have to look at what are you doing with that data," he said.

"It's costing money to store countless documents that have no longer any relevance to be held or requirement to be held. They're just being held and they're taking up space."

Clarke said the paper documents need to be sorted and then destroyed or saved, a process that will eventually save money by reducing the need for physical storage space.

Coming up with a new policy and management system will also streamline digital filing and help CBRM meet the requirements of the Municipal Government Act and other privacy regulations around storage of confidential information.

"It's going to involve people literally physically moving boxes and assessing things [and] people online making sure that the data that they're managing is being done so in a way that provides compliance," Clarke said.

Documents could include property tax records, tax sale forms, utility bills and payments, and many other forms that contain people's confidential information that needs to remain private, he said.  

Council approved the request to look for companies that can provide data storage and security. The potential cost is expected to be brought back to council during this year's budget talks in the coming weeks.

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