City records all city hall phone calls

August 19, 2010

All telephone calls made to Belen City Hall and several other city buildings are recorded and stored for 90 days, a fact disclosed only to those who call into the city’s general telephone line.

On Monday night, the city council voted to approve a more than 80-page information technology policy to better manage the city’s technological infrastructure.

An admission of the recording, the first time several of the councilors had heard of it, was included in one sentence on page 65 of the policy:

In-coming and out-going calls for City Hall, Police, Fire, and Municipal Court are recorded.

Councilor Jerah R. Cordova, who noticed the sentence while reading the policy prior to Monday’s council meeting, expressed concern about the violation of citizens’ privacy.

According to the city’s information technology director, Lawrence Kaneshiro, the city has been recording all telephone calls in city hall and three departments since the city set up its new telephone system approximately a year ago.

The recording was included with the new system as a protective measure after an employee in one department had received threatening telephone calls.

Kaneshiro said the city records all telephone calls, whether they originate in city hall among staff or outside from the public. The recorded calls are stored for 90 days before they’re purged.

Cordova asked if the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) allowed a citizen to request to listen to the recorded telephone calls.

“If a citizen came in with a request to listen to all of the phone calls between the mayor and the city manager during the past 90 days, can they listen to them?” Cordova asked.

The city attorney wasn’t sure if IPRA allowed it because it wasn’t a physical record.

According to IPRA, public records are defined to include tapes, recordings and “other material, regardless of physical form or characteristics.”

The issue is relevant because Councilor Lorenzo Carrillo wants to establish an anonymous tip line for the public to report illegal water lines and water use. The city has other tip lines already.

Posted in: Infrastructure Reform