We Have Received Our New Application. What Is Our Next Step? Educate your staff about the Local Records Act.

Should We Store Our Application With All Our Other Files? Place your application and blank disposal certificates in a special folder or notebook and mark on the outside ( TO BE RETAINED PERMANENTLY ) Inform your staff where the folder or notebook is to be retained.

Legally Disposing Of Records Every employee in your office should be educated on how to dispose of records legally to protect the agency from possible litigation and to ensure citizen’s rights to access of public records are protected. Also, no one wants their agency to be on the 6 o’clock news for illegally and/or irresponsibly disposing of public records.

Meet Your Local Newsman Maybe you don’t know what the requirements of the Local Records Act are, but many reporters do.

The Press & The Public The State Archives periodically receive calls from the general public and the news media wanting to know if a particular agency had permission to dispose of their records. Sometimes the issue is the method of disposal and sometimes it is about the length of time that records were kept. The Local Records Commission primarily deals with the issue of how long are agencies to retain their records and what procedures must the agency follow before you dispose of records legally.

Disposal of Records Due to the growing numbers of identity theft issues we all have to re-think, the issue of how we dispose of some government records.

Disposal Certificates File all disposal certificates with the Application. Establish who will complete the Disposal Certificates in the future. Who will be responsible for submitting the Disposal Certificates for the agency?

Must An Agency Dispose Of Records When The Minimum Retention Period Has Been Met? No, you may retain the records for as long as you need or want after the minimum retention period has been met. Even if you have submitted a Local Records Disposal Certificate indicating you intend to dispose of the records 60 days after the date of submission, you may still keep the records longer if you want to.

Can We Retain the Records Even If We Submitted a Disposal Certificate? You may always retain the records longer if you see a need for this. The Local Records Act only requires that agencies submit and receive approval 60 days prior to the intended disposal date, but if you change your mind and want to keep them longer you may do so.

Disposing of Records Complete a Local Records Disposal Certificate. Mail the Disposal Certificate to the Local Records Commission Sixty (60) Days Prior to the Intended Disposal Date.

How Often Should Disposal Certificates Be Submitted? Most agencies will submit one disposal certificate per year.

Sample Local Records Disposal Certificate

The Application Number WHERE DO I FIND MY APPLICATION NUMBER? APPLICATION NUMBERS ARE LOCATED ON THE COVER SHEET OF YOUR APPLICATION FOR AUTHORITY TO DISPOSE OF LOCAL RECORDS IN THE UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER.

Completing the Disposal Certificate You will notice that each record series has an item number (located in the left hand column of your application) Enter the item number and the record series title as listed on the application in the appropriate column of the Disposal Certificate.

How Do I Figure The Cubic Feet If you are disposing of a full legal size drawer of the record series enter 2 Cu. Ft. If you are disposing of a full letter size drawer of the record series enter 1.5 Cu. Ft. If you are disposing of a full lateral file drawer of the record series enter 2.5 Cu. Ft. If you are disposing of only a few file folders (under ¼ Cu. Ft.) enter Negligible

How Do I Figure The Cubic Feet Boxes that hold copy paper usually are about 1 Cu. Ft. 100 reels of 16mm microfilm equal about 1 Cu. Ft. 80 reels of 35 mm microfilm equal about 1 Cu. Ft.

Inclusive Dates What is the date span of the records you are disposing of?

Completing the Disposal Certificate Application Item No. Record SeriesInclusive DatesCubic Feet To Be Disposed Of 2.Administrative Correspondence Cu. Ft. 12.Disbursing Orders Neg. 19.General Assistance Reports & Expenditures Neg.

What Do I Do If I Have An Older Retention Schedule And Want To Dispose Of Records Not Listed On My Application? Call the Local Records Unit (217) We will then have a field representative contact you, take down the necessary information, and prepare the paperwork to be presented to the Local Records Commission for their approval Once the new record series (item) has been approved by the LRC, a new page will be sent back to your agency showing the retention period approved by the Commission