GL-R-0001-01 Code & Policy Framework - Regulation

Code & Policy Framework Regulation

Purpose

This regulation establishes the approval and oversight model for the City of Boise’s Code & Policy Documents, ensuring code, regulations, standards, procedures, guidance, and forms are developed, vetted, aligned, and maintained consistently. All documents must comply with applicable federal, state, and city law.

Scope

This document applies to all departments and staff who draft, revise, approve, publish, communicate, review, or retire citywide code, regulation, standard, procedure, guidance and form documents covered by the Code & Policy Framework Regulation. Internal department-specific governing documents are not within the scope of this regulation.

Definitions

The following are Code & Policy Documents:

Note on Policy. The standalone “policy” type is retired. Existing policies remain valid and convert, retire, or grandfather through the normal lifecycle over time to a regulation.

Responsibilities

• City Council: Approves the adoption and amendment of city code.
• Code & Policy Committee (committee): Governs the Code & Policy Framework; approves regulations under delegated authority; ensures strategic alignment; resolves cross-departmental ownership issues; and approves authorized exceptions.
• Code & Policy Department Custodian (custodian): Maintain departmental document inventories and metadata; initiate and coordinate reviews and updates; track review deadlines; and serve as the department's liaison to the administrator.
• Code & Policy Document Owner (owner): Draft and revise document content; engage appropriate stakeholders; serve as the point of contact throughout the workflow; respond to review feedback; and maintain the document's accuracy over time. Communicates and trains impacted stakeholders, through monthly supervisor meetings, the employee newsletter, departmental announcements, and targeted notices as needed.
• Code & Policy Administrator (City Clerk’s Office): Responsible and accountable for the Code & Policy Framework; maintains the Code and Policy Register and documents; enforces lifecycle, review, approval, publishing, and audience-permission requirements; coordinates the review and approval pipeline; assigns review cycle with Document Owners; monitors compliance; provides executive reporting and escalation; and ensures that retired and superseded documents meet retention, archival, historical-access, and records-law requirements.
• Community Engagement (CE): Sets and maintains the city’s writing style and brand standards; validates web presentation and accessibility (ADA/WCAG) compliance before and after publication and supports related communications.
• Department Director (director): Approves standards and procedures; designates a Code & Policy Department Custodian; and ensures staff participate in required reviews and updates.
• Employee: Comply with applicable documents and provide feedback for improvement.
• Legal Reviewer (Legal): Reviews documents, as needed, for legal sufficiency and consistency with applicable law, code, and other documents. Legal review is required for Code and Regulation documents. Legal review for other citywide governing documents will be determined by the Code & Policy Administrator.
• Policy Site Technology Owner (IT): Technically administers and sustains the site, register, intake forms, and workflows; configures approved routing, permissions, metadata, controls, and approval logic; maintains system reliability, security, and accessibility; and makes no content or governance decisions.
• Records Manager (City Clerk): Confirms retention requirements, archival designation, and historical-access obligations for retired or superseded documents; supports the administrator on records and compliance review.
• Requestor: Any employee or owner who initiates a New Request, Revision, or Retirement through the intake process.

Approval Authority

The following parties approve the following code and policy documents:

Storage and Publication

The administrator manages this entire process, including indexing, storing, publishing, and archiving every code and policy document. Document Owners provide the information; the City Clerk keeps it organized and current. Every approved, active document is published in one official place, and that is the version employees should rely on. When a document is replaced or retired, it is taken down from public and internal view, so no one follows an outdated version by mistake, and it is archived in accordance with the records retention schedule.

Related Information

• Code & Policy Framework Standard & Procedure

Approval and Revision History