RALEIGH -- A panel created by Gov. Mike Easley to review the state's e-mail policy held a public hearing Thursday. The governor created the panel after allegations that his office directed some state employees to delete e-mails which should have been preserved as public record.

Easley's Office denied those allegations, but he appointed the panel to look over the state's e-mail retention policies.

"The administrative policy right now needs to be clarified,” Dana Cope, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, told the panel Thursday.

That was the general consensus among speakers at the public hearing about the state's e-mail retention policy.

Under the current policy, state employees can decide for themselves if e-mails should be saved as public record or deleted.

Representatives for the N.C. Press Association, the N.C Association of Broadcasters, and the State Employees Association of N.C. told the Governor's Records Review Panel that the current policy isn't keeping with the open records law and it puts too much burden on state employees.

“I think it's always a dangerous situation that the employee is not asking for, to be put in the situation where they individually are having to make that weighty judgment about what should be included, saved in an e-mail system, and what shouldn't be” Cope added.

“Make no mistake,” said Rick Thames, president-elect of the N.C. Press Association and executive editor of the Charlotte Observer. “Every single e-mail involving state employees and elected officials is a public record, and because of that, all of these e-mails must be preserved.”

Speakers also told the panel there is technology available to capture and store all of the state's e-mail, and since keeping them for public records is state law, cost should not be a factor.

“There are solutions,” Thames continued. “I urge you to find one that will quickly bring our state government back into compliance with its own laws.”

Speakers suggested requiring all state employees to take e-mail records management training. They also suggested creating a way to enforce the state's e-mail retention policy and punish people who violate it.

The E-mail Records Review Panel's next meeting is Friday, April 18. The group must have a preliminary report to Gov. Easley by May 20.