Laserfiche WebLink
Kittitas County officials and employees shall retain all public records that document the official <br />work of the county. These records, regardless of format or media, shall be retained in their native <br />format for the minimum period required by retention schedules approved under RCW 40.14 <br />and WAC 434-635. <br />The Primary Record Holder is responsible for retention of the record for the prescribed period of <br />time. <br />Departments shall prescribe an appropriate records management program so records are <br />identified, preserved, organized, retained, and easily recalled. <br />Each department shall, at a minimum: <br />1. Maintain records in their entirety <br />2. Identify temporary, permanent, essential, and archival records <br />3. Ensure accessibility and security <br />4. Organize records for easy recall <br />5. Physically or electronically segregated essential records <br />6. 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 ifthe 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 4/112015 when it was received by the county, scanning that <br />piece of paper to an image on 3/112017 does not change the retention requirement; the <br />scanned document has the original 6 year retention from 4/112015. <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 are preserved in an appropriate manner <br />prior to being sent to such systems to the extent necessary to retain those records and <br />access to 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.