State Auditor Nicole Galloway has sent a letter to local governments in Missouri encouraging them to prohibit the use of self-deleting applications by officials and employees while conducting public business.
"The use of self-deleting applications allows public business to be conducted in the shadows," said Galloway.
Galloway included in the letter updated guidelines adopted by the State Records Commission related to electronic communications. These guidelines, which her office says was approved by a bi-partisan vote, stipulate that use of auto-deleting applications should be prohibited by policy.
The commission guides retention and management for all records in the executive branch of state government.
The same guidelines were also approved by the Local Records Board, whose members include county and municipal government officials. The board establishes proper record retention schedules for all local governments.
