BATTLEFORD — The council of the Town of Battleford not only approved a new Freedom of Information policy at their Dec. 11 meeting but a new clean desk policy that will also help protect against information leaks.
"The policy is there laid out for council. The recommendation [from administration] is that the council of the Town of Battleford approves the policy protecting municipal data and sensitive data from unauthorized persons who might gain access to the premises."
The policy establishes clear procedures and the minimum requirements for maintaining clean desks and to ensure confidential material does not go unaccounted for or is exposed.
That includes actions like ensuring desks are orderly, moving items to drawers, and disposing of documents as they are no longer needed.
It also requires computes to be locked when not in active use, laptops must be locked in secure drawers or secured with a locking cable, printed material must be removed from the printer tray without undue delay, and when sensitive documents are no longer needed, they must be shredded or disposed of in confidential secure disposal bins.
The policy notes that non-compliance may result up to and including termination of employment.
"I think we've all heard information leaks and personal data leaks that coming out of organizations that are much bigger than us and supposed to be a lot more secure," Mayor Ames Leslie told council.
"This is something that I think maybe's been lax around the community and our facility so I had asked Landon [Chambers] to look into that ... that's part of where this is coming to from council today, " he added.
Though other councillors voiced their approval of the policy, Councillor Alexis Christensen did express concerns.
"No, I guess I'm not in favour," she told council.
"It's not that I don't think data should be secure but I just think that some of the messaging is a little bit condescending, and I don't know. It just seems a little archaic, that's all," she added.
Deputy Mayor David George on the other hand felt that the policy was necessary.
"This is something that is not done every day by every person, the activity log for example," he said.
"I don't think it's an infringement on their everyday work ethic or whatever, I don't have an issue with it."
The policy passed council with Councillor Christensen opposed.
"It's just a compliance thing that I think we're ahead of schedule a little bit."
In comments to the media afterwards, Mayor Ames Leslie noted that he wasn't sure what Councillor Christensen was referring to specifically to the policy when she'd noted it felt condescending, but noted there were some concerns about an activity log for staff personnel.
Appendix A in the policy includes a work activity log, with spaces where tasks to be written and comments can be made, along with the times that the task was done — to be listed every half hour of the work day starting at 8 a.m. and running until 4:30 p.m.
He added that he wasn't able to comment on her behalf.
