An email is a critical form of communication between public officials and citizens of their municipality. Email communications can be a legal record of correspondence between two parties. It is a method for public officials to communicate with each other. Having a secure (managed) email account for each person on your staff is a necessary expense for several reasons:

• To prevent violating Ohio Laws (Sunshine Law, Ohio Records Act, Freedom of Information Act, Ohio Ethics Law)
• To maintain consistent communication internally and externally
• To record email communications effectively
• To offer encryption when needed
• To make transitions between public officials easier
• To eliminate the possibility of losing emails in an ex-public official’s email account
• To allow searches without the user’s specific consent
• To add a level of professionalism and branding to your emails
• To filter spam effectively
• To backup email data
• To instill business continuity for the public entity in the event of a disaster
• To avoid breaches that are more likely when using public email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or RoadRunner
• To eliminate personal email accounts installed on UAN computers
• To provide for Legal Holds

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