[HISTORY: Adopted by the Legislature of the County of Monroe 11-28-1989
by L.L. No. 5-1989, approved 12-15-1989.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Department of Information Services — See Ch. 73.
This chapter shall be known as the "Records Management Law."
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Those records in current use which must be retained in the generating
office because frequent reference is necessary in the conduct of day-to-day
operations.
The process of determining the value and thus the disposition of
records based upon their administrative, legal, fiscal, informational, historical
or archival value.
Records worthy of permanent preservation and special administration
because of their continuing administrative, legal or fiscal uses or for historical
or other research.
The removal, transfer or disposal, in accordance with this chapter,
of records no longer necessary for the conduct of business by a department.
Those records which are seldom referred to, but which must be retained,
temporarily or permanently, because of legal, fiscal, administrative or archival
value.
Any book, paper, map, photograph or other information-recording device,
including electronic media, regardless of physical form or characteristic,
belonging to the County of Monroe and created or received by any department
or officer thereof pursuant to law or in connection with the transaction of
public business. "Record" as used herein shall not be deemed to include library
materials, extra copies of documents created only for convenience of reference
and stocks of publications.
A facility or facilities for the low-cost and efficient storage and
reference of inactive records pending their ultimate destruction or transfer
to an archival facility.
That area of general administrative management concerned with achieving
economy and efficiency in the creation, use and maintenance and disposition
of records.
The period of time for which a record must be retained according
to an approved retention schedule.
An itemized list of the office and storage retention periods established
by the State Education Department for the records of the county and its departments.
Making information in records available to any county agency for
official use or to the public.
The Monroe County Administrator of Purchasing and Central Services shall
be the Records Management Officer for the County of Monroe. The Records Management
Officer shall be responsible for administering a records management program
in accordance with this chapter.
A.
The program shall include a County Records Center under
the supervision of the Records Management Officer. The Records Management
Officer shall perform the following functions:
(1)
Establish a process for the transfer of inactive records
to the Records Center, for the retention of records of continuing value and
for the prompt and orderly disposal of records no longer possessing sufficient
administrative, legal, fiscal or historical value to warrant their further
retention. Retention schedules mandated by state or federal law will govern
all records transferred to the Center, except those for which longer retention
periods are requested by the originating office, the County Executive, the
County Legislature, the County Attorney, the County Director of Finance, the
County Clerk or the Records Management Officer and his designee.
(2)
Administer the Records Center for the management, storage,
care, retrieval and disposition of such records as shall be transferred to
it by any department in accordance with an approved retention schedule or
accepted, with prior approval, by the Records Management Officer.
(3)
Develop and publish standards for the cost efficient
handling, reproduction and storage of records. Standards for storage or reproduction
shall conform to professionally accepted archival or court-approved standards,
where such standards exist.
B.
The program shall include a County Archives under the
general supervision of the Records Management Officer, who may delegate direct
supervision to the County Clerk. The Records Management Officer or his designee
shall perform the following functions:
(1)
Advise and assist county departments in reviewing and
selecting material to be transferred to County Archives for preservation.
(2)
Continually survey and examine public records to determine
the most suitable methods to be used for the creating, maintaining, storing
and servicing of archival materials.
(3)
Establish and maintain an adequate repository for the
proper storage, conservation, processing and servicing of archival records.
(4)
Promulgate rules governing public access to and use of
records in the archives.
(5)
Provide information services to other county offices.
(6)
Collect archival materials which are not official County
of Monroe records but which have associational value to the county government
or a close relationship to the existing archival collection. Such collecting
shall be subject to archive space, staff and cost limitations and to the potential
endangerment of such materials if they are not collected by the County Archives.
(7)
Seek to ensure that the historical significance of records
is incorporated into the State Retention Schedules and develop a procedure
whereby historically important records are to be identified at the point of
generation.
A.
The disposition date, as determined by the State Retention
Schedule, of all records transferred to the County Records Center must be
clearly indicated on the transfer lists which accompany the records.
B.
The Records Management Officer shall initiate action
to dispose of records within six months after their retention period has ended.
C.
No record shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of
until approval has been obtained, in writing, in advance of disposition, from
the proper State of New York authorities and from the following:
All records, as defined in § 140-2 of this chapter, are hereby declared to be property of the County of Monroe. No county official or employee has, by virtue of his or her position, any personal or property right to such records, even though he or she has created, composed, written, drawn, developed, compiled or received them. The unauthorized destruction, removal from files or use of such records is prohibited.
A.
A county department is the legal custodian of its records
and shall retain custody of records deposited in the County Records Center.
Records transferred to or acquired by the County Archives shall be under the
custody and control of the County Archives rather than the department which
created or held them immediately prior to being transferred to the County
Records Center.
B.
Records shall be transferred to the County Archives upon
the recommendation of the Records Management Officer or his designee.
C.
Once placed in the County Archives, records may only
be removed with the written authorization of the department which had custody
of the records immediately prior to the transfer of those records to the County
Archives, the County Executive, the Records Management Officer and his designee.
Each department head shall designate one employee as Records Coordinator
to provide liaison with the Records Management Officer to assist in the implementation
of the Records Management Program.
Custody and control of public records of departments, agencies or programs
of the county which are or become defunct is hereby vested in the County Archives
to the extent that custody to such records is not granted to a designated
successor department, agency or program.
