AURUKUN SHIRE COUNCIL

Policy Title: INCOMING AND OUTGOING MAIL

POLICY

Policy Type: ADMINISTRATIVE

(Statutory, Financial, WH&S, Risk, Administrative, Human Resources)

Policy Number:

Approved by Council Meeting date

Resolution number

Approved by Title:
CEO/Director:

Effective date:

Next Review date: February 2016

Implementation Department / Officer- Name:

Version Number: Document Management file no.

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1. POLICY BACKGROUND/SCOPE:
Mail must be dealt with in a manner which promotes the efficient and confidential handling of all
incoming and outgoing mail. This Policy is to identify the procedures and Council philosophy on
managing the flow of documentation both within the Aurukun administrative office and the
Cairns branch office.

2. POLICY PROVISIONS:
. Definitions:

Incoming Mail is all correspondence, facsimiles faxes, magazines, circulars, advertising

material, copies of emails and packages received.
Outgoing Mail is all correspondence, facsimiles faxes, magazines, circulars, advertising
material, copies of emails and packages sent.
Personal Mail is all mail addressed to the individual employee. All new employees should be
advised to avoid confusion all personal mail should be addressed to their street address in
Aurukun.
Tenders are confidential quotes for work by non-council employees that have been formally
advertised in the public arena via public advertisement.
References to actions and nominated staff include both Aurukun Administration office and
Cairns branch office

Procedure:

Managing mail
 An officer nominated by the Chief Executive Officer is responsible for managing and
recording all Incoming and Outgoing mail on a daily basis.

Collecting mail
 If the Council has a post office box, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will arrange for an
employee to collect the mail.

 When mail is collected to bring back to the office, it must be placed in a bag to ensure it is
not lost.

Incoming Mail

A staff member nominated by the Chief Executive Officer must

Checking incoming mail

 Check incoming mail for:
o Return address
o Damage
o Contents and enclosures
o Suspicious appearance or sounds

Stamp incoming mail

 Stamp all mail with the current date and time in an appropriate position (usually
opposite the inside address on letters.

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 Sort the incoming mail as soon as possible after it arrives.

 Mail is to be sorted into bundles:

(a) Mail marked “Urgent” or sent by express post
(b) Mail marked “Confidential”
(c) Routine Council mail
(d) Parcels
(e) Magazines, circulars and advertising material.
(f) Cash and cheques by Post
(g) Personal Mail
(h) Tenders

 Before other mail is sorted, give priority to urgent mail over routine mail by:
(a) Date stamping it
(b) Recording it in the Electronic Incoming Mail Register
(c) If there is cash and cheques by post, it is to be recorded in the Cash by Post register
and given to the Administration Manager to check amounts and entries.
(d) Pass it to the cashier for receipting then
(e) Distribute supporting documentation to the relevant employee as soon as possible
after receiving it.
(f) Distribute the urgent mail to the appropriate employee

 Record faxes in the Electronic Incoming Mail Register and distribute them as soon as
possible after receiving them.

 Do not open confidential or personal mail. If you open confidential or personal mail in
error, reseal it and attach a note, stating it was “Opened in error”, as well as the date and
your signature.

 Do not record confidential mail other than recording the post mark in the Electronic
Incoming Mail Register.

 Do not record personal mail in the inward mail register

 Sort routine Council mail by identifying the most relevant employee to handle the matter
by looking at (in order):
(a) Name of the employee in the inside address or attention line
(b) Title of the employee in the inside address
(c) Work area in the inside address
(d) Subject heading
(e) Body of the letter.

Recording incoming mail

 Record urgent mail and faxes in the Electronic Incoming Mail Register as soon as they
are received and then deliver them to the relevant employee.
 Record routine business mail, parcels, magazines and relevant advertising material
in the Electronic Incoming Mail Register after urgent mail has been delivered.

Distributing incoming mail

 After all recording procedures have been completed:
(a) Deliver urgent mail and faxes to the relevant employees or their pigeon hole as
soon as they are received;
(b) Deliver magazines, circulars and advertising material to the relevant work area
or their pigeon hole for distribution (attach a Distribution List – Appendix one with
names of those to see document if more than one);

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 (c) Deliver all other mail and parcels to the relevant work area.
(d) All mail addressed to the CEO or council should go to the CEO for sorting
and distribution and be returned by CEO for distribution to the Executive
Assistant
(e) If there is any confusion regarding the recipient of the incoming email please
endeavor to make enquiries as to who maybe the recipient before returning the
mail

Process for Tenders

 All tenders should be marked “Tender” with the tender number when they arrive at council
 The Tender Envelope should not be opened but rather date stamped and placed in the
Tender box unopened.
 If opened in error the tender should be referred to the CEO for a decision

Action required for missing return address

 Check the envelope for a return address.
 Staple the envelope to the letter if it contains the return address.
 If you cannot find the return address, make a note on the letter, initial and
date the note.

Action required for damaged mail

 Contact the sender to verify that all items are in the package.
 If items are missing, follow the procedure for missing contents.

Action required for mail with missing contents

 If relevant, organise for replacement items to be sent.
 If required, complete and submit insurance forms for damaged or missing items.

Action required for suspicious mail

 Suspicious mail should not be handled.
 Notify the Chief Executive Officer immediately.

Internal Mail

Action required for internal mail

 Internal mail must be delivered to the nominated person managing mail.
 Items must be registered in the internal mail register and placed in bag
 Bag is then required to be delivered to the airport and any bags from the other office
collected from the airport.
 The sending of the bag is on an “as needed” basis

Outgoing Mail

 All outward mail must be sent on a daily basis

 All outgoing Aurukun Administration Office Mail and Cairns branch office mail should be
placed in the correctly marked tray and be recorded in the Outgoing Aurukun
Administration office and Cairns branch office mail registers.

 All outgoing general mail should be placed in the correct tray and recorded in the General
Outward Mail register.

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  Any outgoing mail marked ‘urgent,’ ‘confidential’ or express must contain a message to
that effect and be sent via that specified mailing system.

 Mail to local residents from council should remain at the post office for the allotted time
and every attempt made to contact the recipient. If the recipient is known to be in the
community, do not mark ‘Return to Sender’ as per Australia Post policy.

3. RELATED DOCUMENTATION

 Electronic Incoming Mail Register

 Cash and Cheque per post register

APPENDIX ONE:

CIRCULATION LIST
Please read/review attached materials and forward to next person on the
list.

Name Work area Date reviewed Comment