TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A recent incident with the Tallahassee city manager has caused city staff to look for a way hold themselves accountable for their text messages.
The city was asked for a copy of Rick Fernandez' text messages, but they had already been deleted. To avoid having this issue again, the city commission is looking into ways to capture and retain text messages from city issued cell phones.
This would allow for text messages to be archived much like emails are. But a solution like this solution like this doesn’t come cheap.
“It’s going to be expensive," said Curtis Richardson, a Tallahassee city commissioner. "We’re looking at a maximum of maybe about $100,000, but it will give us the opportunity to be able to capture these text messages and if there’s a public records request for that information we will be able to provide it.”
The City of Tallahassee would be one of the first, if not the first city in Florida to have a text message archive system if this is approved.
The city commission is still discussing this item.
