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Departments shall prescribe an appropriate records maintenance program so that complete <br />records are filed or otherwise identified and preserved, records can be found when needed, the <br />identification and retention of permanent, essential and/or archival records are facilitated, and <br />permanent and temporary records are physically or electronically segregated. <br />Each department shall: <br />2. Maintain records in their entirety <br />3. Ensure accessibility and security <br />4. Organize records for easy recall <br />5. Periodically audit procedures and adherence to them to assess their adequacy. <br />3.2.1 Electronic Records <br />Unless otherwise noted, records retention requirements apply to all electronic information <br />systems. This section discusses specific aspects of electronic records retention: <br />1. Original format: all electronic records must be kept in the record’s original format. This <br />demonstrates the authenticity of the record, maintains the context of the record, and <br />preserves both the record and its metadata. <br />2. Conversion: conversion of a primary record from one data format to another is allowable <br />only if the need for conversion and method is documented and all original metadata is <br />preserved. Examples of when this is appropriate include new versions of software from <br />the same vendor or moving from software of one vendor to that of another. Converting to <br />a different format does not change any retention requirements. If a paper record has a 6 <br />year retention beginning 4/1/2015 when it was received by the county, scanning that <br />piece of paper to an image on 3/1/2017 does not change the retention requirement; the <br />scanned document has the original 6 year retention from 4/1/2015.If a record has a 5 year <br />retention and the original format is paper, scanning that piece of paper to an image does <br />not change the fact it still has a 5 year retention value. Converting a Word document that <br />has a 5 year retention to a .pdf does not change the retention of the record created in <br />Word. <br />3. External systems: Kittitas County departments with access to external electronic systems, <br />e.g. Courts (AOC, JIS) and law enforcement (KITTCOM, Spillman), shall ensure that <br />county records sent or received on these systems; e.g. Courts (AOC, JIS), law <br />enforcement (KITTCOM, Spillman) are preserved in an appropriate manner prior to <br />being sent to such systems to the extent necessary to retain those records and access to <br />them as may be required by law including applicable retention schedules. <br />4. County systems: Kittitas County IT is responsible for maintaining the county network <br />and its storage devices. The primary record holder is responsible for maintaining and <br />retaining their records within that system. Electronic backups of county systems are short <br />term and for disaster recovery only, and as such shall not be relied upon for records <br />management and retention. <br />3.3 Disposition of Public Records