And does it matter? (spoiler alert – it does)

Dwight Driscoll | NRG Account Manager*

A cursory glance at the County Officials Directory (www.ndaco.org/cod) shows that most county offices are using a “.gov” email address. The .gov ending brings with it added security, and assurance that the end user is a government employee.

However, nearly half of all counties do not include commissioners in that email category and in some counties that have them, there are at least a few commissioners using their personal Gmail, Yahoo! or other accounts. These accounts are sometimes shared with other members of the county official’s household.

Using a personal email address for official county business is a risky practice for county commissioners, due to transparency, privacy, and legal concerns.

Official communications are generally subject to open records laws. A private account, such as Gmail, does not protect you from open records. It is the content that matters.

When commissioners use personal email, it can complicate responses to public records requests. Do you want your IT department to sift through ALL your private emails, trying to determine which ones are county business, if a citizen or reporter requests open records?

Additionally, using personal email can create confusion for constituents and colleagues, blurring the line between personal and public matters. This practice also makes it difficult for the county to retain and manage records appropriately, as they are not stored in official government systems, which could result in accidental loss or failure to meet retention requirements.

Each county has its own approach to addressing this situation. Some provide a county email address; some commissioners simply set up a separate email address to use for county business.

*Created with assistance from ChatGPT, with additional editing and contribution by Jeff Eslinger, County News Editor

GOOD: Separate email account for County Commission Business (commissioner1@gmail.com) BETTER: Separate email account within your county’s registered domain (commissioner2@county.org) BEST: Separate email account within your county’s registered.gov domain (commissioner@*yourcounty*.gov)