Page 23 - The Edge - Fall 2019

GO PAPERLESS “From there, we tell the system if the contract was renewed
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22 or not,” she said. “If renewed, it adds a new expiration date and
keeps the le. If it’s not renewed and we end the contract, the
system starts the retention time-clock.”
dawned on me that at all three school districts I had worked at In the contract le, the system looks for the disposal of
we never di erentiated in those les. He mentioned that there assets. Once all the assets from all of the purchase orders with
were retention schedules for the contract le, including the contract numbers assigned to it show a disposal date for each
current contract, amendments, determinations, publication asset, the time-clock begins ticking for disposal of the contract
notices and the awarded vendor’s response records and le, Hamilton said, adding: “ at’s three years after the disposal
supporting documents.” of the last asset of that contract.”
e procurement le, Hamilton explained, was basically all Another feature is the 90-day bu er. At the expiration date of
the unsuccessful solicitation records that went with the original a contract, if it is not renewed, the system doesn’t purge it for 90
solicitation, such as con ict-of-interest, protests, recap sheets, days, just in case it should have been renewed.
responses and renewals. “It sounds very complicated,” Fleetwood said, “but it actually
“ at got my brain thinking about all the extra documents a lot easier.”
we were holding onto for our construction projects and all Hamilton said school business officials need to start
other procurements,” Hamilton said. thinking about records retention. “As important as it is to store
Mesa Schools switched to electronic records retention records, it’s just as important to destroy records. Because if you
three years ago. Referring to records retention on contracts have it, it’s available for a public records request,” Hamilton
for capital/ xed assets, Fleetwood said the biggest changes said. “Auditors are trying to go electronic, too. Our goal is to be
involved better-de ned record series numbers and titles. paperless.”
“We now have a de ned schedule that gives you examples Hamilton said there is still push-back from “old-school”
instead of just referencing the statute it came from,” Fleetwood employees who do not favor going electronic. But she said
said. “ e contract le must be held until the asset has been acceptance by employees will become easier “as you hire more
disposed of. We decided we needed a way to automate the and more millennials.”
process of retaining records according to the schedule. Since “You need to get your school district into the correct mode
there was no communication with property management of records retention,” Hamilton said.
regarding when assets were disposed of, we needed a way of But she suggested patience: “Begin the process to transition
knowing that.” – but you won’t nish it in a single year.”
Hamilton recalled that Mesa Schools did not have a good
process in place to handle all contracts with capital assets. Michelle Hamilton can be reached at: (40) 472-0150 or
Construction and remodel contracts were being held correctly, mlhamilton@mpsaz.org
she said, but needed to be streamlined.
“For our other contracts, for example furniture and
technology, there was no correlation between the contract, the
purchase or the disposal of the asset,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said she met with their electronic provider at “We spent several months meeting and testing
the time to see if they could develop a process that met their
retention and procurement rules. processes. Now, we upload all the documents
“We spent several months meeting and testing processes,” that are needed for retention. We use key
she said. “Now, we upload all the documents that are needed
for retention. We use key words we would want to search by, words we would want to search by, including
including contract title and number, issued date and expiration
date. When we upload the contract, we separate the documents contract title and number, issued date and
by what should be in the contract le versus the procurement expiration date. When we upload the contract,
le as de ned by the records retention schedule.”
She re-emphasized that the contract le includes the original we separate the documents by what should be
solicitation, the awarded vendors’ response, award letters, o er
and acceptance, certi cates of insurance, purchase orders and in the contract fi le versus the procurement fi le
renewals. as defi ned by the records retention schedule.”
e procurement le includes all other documents, such as
non-awarded responses, evaluation sheets and a list of bidders, — Michelle Hamilton of Mesa Public Schools
she said.
In the procurement file, Hamilton said Mesa Schools
enters the award date and the expiration date so the system
automatically sends her renewal notices.

FALL 2019 | THE EDGE 23