The Office of the City Clerk has had a role in Records Management for over 100 years. The Records Management Program, which has been a model nationwide, monitors the disposition of all City records from origin and use through storage, archival retention, to final disposition.

• The  1889 City Charter specified that the keeping of all books, papers, records and other documents belonging to the city was the duty of the City Clerk.
• The  1931 City Charter designates the City Clerk as the custodian of official records of the City. Under this authority, the City Clerk's Office first initiated a Records Management Program in 1959.
• The current Records Management Program was initiated on April 1, 1980 with the adoption of  Ordinance O-15761 was adopted which added sections 22.2602 through 22.2607 to the Municipal Code. This ordinance legally prescribed Records Management procedures including the requirement for a Records Disposition Schedule for each City department.
• In 1988, the City Clerk began its Archives Program to protect and preserve archival City documents and aid in the retrieval of information.