Whatcom County Council members are "highly discouraged" from using their personal email accounts for county business and from blind copying, under a new policy.

The council on Tuesday, Jan. 24, voted 7-0 to approve a new email use and retention policy. With certain exceptions, emails are subject to release under state public records laws whether they're written from or land in a county or personal inbox.

The new policy makes clear council members must retain copies of all emails. It also says council members wanting to send informational emails to a quorum of the council "must make it abundantly clear in the email that the information is being provided for review only and that no response is desired."

A state audit found that, in 2010, council members emailed the entire council and a different council member responded to them all. That met the definition of a meeting that should have been open to the public under state public meetings law, auditors said.