HomeMy WebLinkAboutRecords Management Policy 20171003 AgendaKittitas County
Board of County Commissioners
AGENDA STAFF REPORT
Agenda Date: October 3, 2017
Action Requested: Adopt a Resolution Updating the Kittitas County Records Management
Policy
Background: February 17, 2015 the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners adopted a
revised Records Management Policy. In May 2017 the Washington Secretary
of State published a revised Local Government Common Records Retention
Schedule (CORE), version 4. Based on the revised CORE, the Records
Management Committee completed a thorough review of the Kittitas
County Records Management Policy. On September 13, 2017 the
committee approved the changes and forwarded a favorable
recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners to adopt the
attached changes.
Interaction: Records Management Committee
Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
Recommendation: Adopt the resolution updating the Records Management Policies.
Handling: No handling necessary.
Attachments: Resolution
Proposed changes to the Records Management Policies
Lead Staff: Jim Goeben, IT Director
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
COUNTY OF KITTITAS
STATE OF WASHINGTON
RESOLUTION
NO. 2017‐_______
RESOLUTION TO ADOPT REVISED RECORDS MANAGEMENT POLICY
WHEREAS, the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners adopted a revised Records Management Policy
effective January 1, 2015; and
WHEREAS, the Washington Secretary of State published a revised Local Government Common Records
Retention Schedule (CORE), version 4.0 May 2017; and
WHEREAS, the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners previously directed the creation of a Records
Management Committee to support its efforts and obligations with regard to the creation,
capture, and retention of public records; and
WHEREAS, that committee researched and drafted a set of revisions to the policy which reflect changes
in the applicable standards and means for compliance with those standards; and
WHEREAS, the Board concurs in those proposed revisions, and desires to have those policies
implemented and used as the basis for training county employees;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of County Commissioners of Kittitas County,
Washington, hereby adopts the revisions made to the Records Management Policy that are
attached hereto and incorporated by reference.
DATED this __________ day of ____________________, 2017, at Ellensburg, Washington.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
KITTITAS COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Paul Jewell, Chairman
Attest: Laura Osiadacz, Vice‐Chairman
☐ Clerk of the Board, Julie Kjorsvik
☐ Deputy Clerk of the Board, Mandy Buchholz
Obie O’Brien, Commissioner
Records Management Policy
Kittitas County Records Management Policies
1. Purpose
Kittitas County officials and employees are responsible for retaining records that document the
official work of the county in accordance with retention schedules approved by the Washington
State Archives’ Local Records Committee. The purpose of this policy is to establish standards
for appropriate retention and destruction of records within the departments of Kittitas County
and to educate employees how to:
Identify public records and their retention schedule.
Manage, preserve, dispose of, and/or transfer, in compliance with approved retention
schedules, those records, regardless of format or media, which document the
organization, functions, programs, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential
transactions of the County; and destroy records with minimal or no retention value.
2. Definitions
As used in this policy, the following term shall have the meaning indicated:
Archival (Appraisal Required)
Public records which may possess enduring legal and/or historic value and must be
appraised by the Washington State Archives on an individual basis.*
Archival (Permanent Retention)
Public records which possess enduring legal and/or historic value and must not be
destroyed. Local government agencies must either transfer these records to Washington
State Archives or retain and preserve these records according to archival best practices
until such time as they are transferred to Washington State Archives (WSA).*
Born-digital
A record originally created as an electronic record. Born-digital records consist of the file
along with its metadata and any attachments. Paper records that have been digitized or
any other record converted into digital format are not born-digital.
Conversion
The activity of converting the agency’s public records from one form (source records) to
another (converted records) through the processes of imaging (digitization or microfilm
preservation) or data migration (digital or magnetic).The activity of converting public
records from one form (source records) to another (converted records) through the
processes of imaging (digitization or microfilm preservation) or data migration (digital or
magnetic).*
Database Management System
(DBMS) A software system used to access and retrieve data stored in a database (e.g.
SQL Server, Oracle, Microsoft Access and other similar programs).
Electronic Information System
A system in which computerized records (electronic records) are collected, organized,
and categorized to facilitate their preservation, retrieval, use, access, and disposition.
Electronic Records
Any information in a format that only a machine can process, including but not limited to
video or audio cassette tape, punch card, email, voicemail messages, text messages, and
word processing files. The electronic record includes its metadata.
Essential Records
Public records that local government agencies must have in order to maintain or resume
business continuity following a disaster. While the retention requirements for essential
records may range from very short-term to archival, these records are necessary for an
agency to resume its core functions following a disaster.* See RCW 40.10.010.
Local Records Committee
(LRC) The committee established by RCW 40.14.070 to review and approve disposition
of local government records.*
Metadata
Information describing the contents and context of data files; often referred to as "data
about data". This includes but is not limited to date of creation, access information,
database schema, author/sender, and electronic routing information.
Permanent Records
See Archival (Appraisal Required) and Archival (Permanent Retention) above.
Preservation
The filing, storing, or any other method of systematically maintaining and keeping
secure, a record in its entirety, including metadata. This term covers materials not only
filed or otherwise systematically maintained but also those temporarily removed from
existing filing systems.
Primary Record Holder
The employee who creates the record, or is first to receive the record created by a non-
employee.
Public Records
RCW 40.14.010 – Definition and classification of public records.
"... The term "public records" shall include any paper, correspondence, completed form,
bound record book, photograph, film, sound recording, map drawing, machine-readable
material, compact disc meeting current industry ISO specifications, or other document,
regardless of physical form or characteristics, and including such copies thereof, that
have been made by or received by any agency of the state of Washington in connection
with the transaction of public business..."*
RCW 42.56.010(3) – "Public record" includes any writing containing information
relating to the conduct of government or the performance of any governmental or
proprietary function prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency
regardless of physical form or characteristics.
The interaction between the two statutes may impact how/why we retain records.
Records with Minimal Retention Value
Records created or received by the agency which are typically of short-term, temporary
informational use.*
Records Retention Schedule
A legal document approved by the LRC that that specifies required retention periods for a
record series and provides ongoing disposition authority for the records series after its
approved retention period has been satisfied. In addition to the Local Government
Common Records Retention Schedule (CORE), there are additional retention schedules
specific to certain departments and offices.
Records Series
A group of records, performing a specific function, which is used as a unit, filed as a unit,
and may be transferred or destroyed as a unit. A records series may consist of a single
type of form or a number of different types of documents that are filed together to
document a specific function.*
Records Retention Schedule
A legal document approved by the LRC that specifies required retention periods for a
record series and provides ongoing disposition authority for the records series after its
approved retention period has been satisfied.
Retention Period
The retention period is the minimum amount of time that an agency is required to retain
records within a record series. Retention periods are provided in records retention
schedules.
Secondary Records
Copies (or duplicates) of the agency’s primary records used for specific legal, fiscal, or
administrative purposes. Copies of records (created or received), provided that the agency
retains the primary record in accordance with the current approved minimum retention
period.*
Transitory Records
See Records with Minimal Retention Value
Public records that only document information of a temporary, short-term, nature, and
provided the records are:
o Not needed as evidence of a business transaction; and
o Not covered by a more specific records series.*
* Local Government Common Records Retention Schedule (CORE), Version 3.0 4.0 (November
May 20172012)
3. Policy
3.1 Identifying Public Records
Public records are defined by three key criteria in RCW 40.14.010 and RCW 42.56.010:
1. Made by or received by any agency ofin the State of Washington
2. In connection with the transaction of public business
3. Regardless of physical form or characteristics
A record provides evidence of an agency’s decisions and actions, and therefore has a retention
value.
3.1.1 Records Index
No general County records index exists. Departments that choose to maintain an index are
responsible for maintaining the index. Departments that do not have an index are not required to
create one as the Board of County Commissioners has determined, as reflected in KCC 2.55.030,
that such would be unduly burdensome, thus implicating the exception provided for in RCW
42.56.070(4).
A records index is publicly disclosable and therefore should not contain any sensitive or
redactable information.
3.2 Preserving Public Records
Kittitas County officials and employees shall retain all public records that document the official
work of the county. These records, regardless of format or media, shall be retained in their native
format for the minimum period required by retention schedules approved under RCW 40.14 and
WAC 434-635.
The Primary Record Holder is responsible for retention of the record for the prescribed period of
time.
Departments shall prescribe an appropriate records management program so records are
identified, preserved, organized, retained, and easily recalled.
Each department shall, at a minimum:
1. Maintain records in their entirety
2. Identify temporary, permanent, essential, and archival records
3. Ensure accessibility and security
4. Organize records for easy recall
5. Physically or electronically segregated essential records
1.6.Periodically audit procedures and adherence to them to assess their adequacy.
Departments shall prescribe an appropriate records maintenance program so that complete
records are filed or otherwise identified and preserved, records can be found when needed, the
identification and retention of permanent, essential and/or archival records are facilitated, and
permanent and temporary records are physically or electronically segregated.
Each department shall:
2. Maintain records in their entirety
3. Ensure accessibility and security
4. Organize records for easy recall
5. Periodically audit procedures and adherence to them to assess their adequacy.
3.2.1 Electronic Records
Unless otherwise noted, records retention requirements apply to all electronic information
systems. This section discusses specific aspects of electronic records retention:
1. Original format: all electronic records must be kept in the record’s original format. This
demonstrates the authenticity of the record, maintains the context of the record, and
preserves both the record and its metadata.
2. Conversion: conversion of a primary record from one data format to another is allowable
only if the need for conversion and method is documented and all original metadata is
preserved. Examples of when this is appropriate include new versions of software from
the same vendor or moving from software of one vendor to that of another. Converting to
a different format does not change any retention requirements. If a paper record has a 6
year retention beginning 4/1/2015 when it was received by the county, scanning that
piece of paper to an image on 3/1/2017 does not change the retention requirement; the
scanned document has the original 6 year retention from 4/1/2015.If a record has a 5 year
retention and the original format is paper, scanning that piece of paper to an image does
not change the fact it still has a 5 year retention value. Converting a Word document that
has a 5 year retention to a .pdf does not change the retention of the record created in
Word.
3. External systems: Kittitas County departments with access to external electronic systems,
e.g. Courts (AOC, JIS) and law enforcement (KITTCOM, Spillman), shall ensure that
county records sent or received on these systems; e.g. Courts (AOC, JIS), law
enforcement (KITTCOM, Spillman) are preserved in an appropriate manner prior to
being sent to such systems to the extent necessary to retain those records and access to
them as may be required by law including applicable retention schedules.
4. County systems: Kittitas County IT is responsible for maintaining the county network
and its storage devices. The primary record holder is responsible for maintaining and
retaining their records within that system. Electronic backups of county systems are short
term and for disaster recovery only, and as such shall not be relied upon for records
management and retention.
3.3 Disposition of Public Records
Records will be destroyed at the end of their retention period. Secondary copies and other
records with minimal retention value, as defined in the Local Government Common Records
Retention Schedule, will be destroyed when they are no longer needed for agency business.
Records may be retained longer than the required minimum period only if the need is
documented.
All records not on legal hold must be destroyed once they have passed their retention period and
any documented extensions. Records destruction shall be documented on the Kittitas County
Records Disposition Log. except for those whose minimum retention is “Retain until no longer
needed for agency business, then destroy.”
At a minimum, each department shall ensure that:
1. After the retention requirements have been met for records that are listed as archival or
potentially archival according to the Secretary of State Retention Schedule, the
department shall contact the regional archives for appraisal and possible transfer.
2. Procedures are established and are followed for disposition of all copies of records.
3. All records scheduled for disposition are disposed of in a manner that ensures destruction
of any sensitive, private, proprietary, or security information.
3.3.1 Legal Holds
The County is prohibited from destroying a public record, even if it is about to be lawfully
destroyed under a retention schedule, if a public records request has been made for that record.
Additional retention requirements might apply if the records may be relevant to actual or
anticipated litigation. The agency is required to retain the record until the record request and
litigation has been resolved.
3.3.2 Digitizing and Destroying (Scanning and Tossing)
For early destruction after digitization (DADscanning), see the applicable county procedures and
current approved records retention schedule, section 5.5 Records Conversion.
Non-archival paper-based source records that have been imaged – and verified to be complete
and accurate – in accordance with county procedures and Washington State Archives
requirements, may be destroyed (DAN GS50-09-14).
Archival paper-based source records must be transferred to the Washington State Archives.
These records may be imaged – and verified to be complete and accurate – in accordance with
county procedures and Washington State Archives requirements, then transferred to the Archives
prior to the retention requirement.
3.4 Transfer of Public Records
Records considered archival (permanent retention) must be retained and preserved according to
archival best practices until such time as they are transferred to Washington State Archives.
RCW 40.14.030, 40.14.070(2)(a)(iii); WAC 434-615-030
Records that require appraisal must be coordinated with the State Archivist.
3.5 Training
Department Heads/Elected Officials (DH/EOs), in coordination with the Records Management
Committee, are responsible for training employees regarding policy and procedures. DH/EOs
will ensure accessibility of records management policy and procedures to all county employees.
RCW 42.56.150,
4. Resources
For additional information and resources, see the Kittitas County Records Management
handbook online at http://camas-wiki/policy/wiki/Records_Management_Handbookwebsite:
http://camas-net/features/records-management/.
Adopted by the Board of County Commissioners on 02/17/2015, Resolution 2015-033