[Derived from L.L. No.
8-1967]
Pursuant to the provisions of § 533 of the County
Law, Suffolk County hereby assumes the liability to save harmless
and protect its County Clerk and employees of the County Clerk's office
from financial loss arising out of any claim, demand, suit or judgment
by reason of alleged negligence of said County Clerk or employees,
provided that each act was committed in the discharge of their duties
and within the scope of their employment.
[Added 6-28-1994 by L.L. No. 16-1994; amended 9-16-1997 by L.L. No.
33-1997]
A.
Designation of records management officer.
(1)
A records management program is hereby established under the auspices
of the County Clerk, to be headed by the Records Management Officer.
(2)
The County Legislature shall designate the County Records Management
Officer to serve at the pleasure of the County Legislature.
(3)
The Records Management Officer shall be responsible for administering
the current and archival public records in storage areas for the County
in accordance with local, state and federal laws and guidelines.
B.
ARCHIVES
RECORDS
RECORDS CENTER
RECORDS DISPOSITION
RECORDS MANAGEMENT
SERVICING
Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall have
the meanings indicated:
Those official records which have been determined by the
County Clerk to have sufficient historical or other value to warrant
their continued preservation by the County.
Official files, minutes and documents, books, papers, photographs,
sound recordings, microforms or any other materials, regardless of
physical form or characteristics, made or received pursuant to law
or in conjunction with the transactions of official County business.
A central storage area maintained by the County Clerk and
the Records Management Office for the storing, servicing, securing
and processing of records which must be preserved for varying periods
of time.
The removal by the County, in accordance with approved records
control schedules, of the records no longer necessary for the conduct
of business by the County through removal methods, which may include
the disposition of temporary records by destruction or donation or
the transfer of records to a central storage facility for records
with scheduled retention periods or permanent storage of records determined
to have historical or other sufficient value warranting continued
preservation or the transfer of records from one County agency to
another County agency.
The planning, controlling, directing, organizing, training,
promotion and other managerial activities involved in records creation,
records maintenance and use and records disposition, including records
preservation, records disposal and the records center or other storage
facilities.
Making information in records available to any agency for
official use or to the public.
C.
Powers and duties of Records Management Officer.
(1)
The Records Management Officer shall have all the necessary powers
to carry out the efficient administration, determination of value,
use, preservation, storage and disposition of the public records kept,
filed or received by the departments, agencies and offices of the
County.
(2)
The Records Management Officer shall continually survey and examine
public records to recommend their classification so as to determine
the most suitable method to be used for maintaining, storing and servicing
them under the following guidelines:
(a)
Disposition: Records deemed obsolete and unnecessary according
to the New York Education Law are subject to disposition.
(b)
Archival retention: information containing administrative, legal,
fiscal, research, historical or educational value which warrants their
permanent retention.
(c)
Active retention: records not yet subject to disposition according
to state law.
(3)
The Records Management Officer shall establish guidelines for proper
records management in any department, agency or office of the County
in accordance with local, state and federal laws and guidelines.
(4)
The Records Management Officer shall report annually to the County
Legislature on the powers and duties herein mentioned, including but
not limited to the development and progress of programs to date and
planned activities for subsequent years.
(5)
The Records Management Officer shall operate a central records management
storage facility for storing, processing and servicing all County
records for all County departments, agencies and offices.
(6)
The Records Management Officer shall also:
(a)
Develop a comprehensive records management program.
(b)
Conduct an initial survey and analysis of all records, to be
followed up annually with a report of records stored.
(c)
Encourage and coordinate the continuous legal destruction of
obsolete records through the adoption and use of the New York State
Archives Record Retention and Disposition Schedules.
(d)
Develop suitable retention periods for records not covered by
the New York State Records Retention and Disposition Schedules. Subsequently,
the Records Management Officer must secure approval of such retention
periods from the New York State Commissioner of Education and gain
adoption from the Legislature of any proposed change before the retention
period takes effect.
(e)
Assist each County department, agency or office for the establishment
of a records management system, to support the overall County records
management program and encourage the continued efficient management
of records within respective departments, agencies or offices.
(f)
Set up and oversee a center for the storage area.
(g)
Maintain archival materials which are not official County records
but which have historical value to the community or close relationship
to the existing archival collection, subject to archival space, staff
and cost limitations and to the potential endangerment of such materials
if they are not collected by the archives.
(h)
Coordinate and carry out or participate in the planning for
development of advanced records management systems and equipment.
(i)
Prepare special and annual reports on the progress of the records
management program, cost savings, cost avoidance problems and additional
issues.
D.
Custody and control of records.
(1)
Active records: The originating department, agency or office shall
have full custody, both legal and physical, over records still in
active use.
(2)
Inactive records: The originating department shall be the legal custodian
of its records and shall retain the power to retrieve and use records
deposited in inactive storage in the Records Center. The Records Management
Officer shall have physical custody of inactive records and shall
determine the method and design of storage.
(3)
Archival records: Records transferred to or acquired by the archives
shall be under the full custody, both legal and physical, of the archives,
as directed by the Records Management Officer, rather than the department,
agency or office which created or held them immediately prior to being
transferred to the archives.
(a)
Records shall be transferred to the archives upon the recommendations
of the Records Management Officer, with the approval of the head of
the department, agency or office which had custody of the records.
(b)
Records may be removed temporarily or permanently from the archives
at the request of the Records Management Officer or the head of the
department, agency or office which had custody of the records immediately
prior to the transfer of those records to the archives.
E.
Disposition of records.
(1)
No records shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by a department,
agency or office of the County until it has met the time limit on
the State Records Retention and Disposition Schedule or unless approved
by the Records Management Officer. Following required consents and
prior to actual destruction, the Records Management Officer shall
allow the County Historian to review and/or remove any single document
or sampling of documents that are of historic value to the community.
F.
Enforcement. The County Department of Law may take steps to recover
local government records which have been alienated from proper custody
and may, when necessary, institute actions of replevin to recover
such records.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: Former Subsection G, which immediately followed
and which established a Records Management Advisory Committee, was
repealed and the Committee abolished 12-6-2005 by L.L. No. 37-2005.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § A18-2, County Tax Map designation
required on all subdivision filings, derived from L.L. No. 22-1976,
was repealed 9-28-1988 by L.L. No. 31-1988.
[Derived from L.L. No.
7-1979]
A.
The County Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to require that
all instruments presented for filing or recording in his office which
affect or pertain to the title of land in Suffolk County shall have
endorsed thereon a verified number or combination of numbers which
identify such land in relation to district, section, block and lot
number, or other appropriate indicia, shown on the Real Property Tax
Service Agency maps.
B.
Types of instruments which affect or pertain to the title of land
shall be deemed to include:
(1)
Agreement.
(2)
Amendment of indenture of easement.
(3)
Amendment of lease.
(4)
Amendment of lease memorandum.
(5)
Appropriation.
(6)
Assignment of agreement.
(7)
Assignment of contract.
(8)
Assignment of lease.
(9)
Assignment of mortgage.
(10)
Assignment of rents.
(11)
Assignment of lessor's interest in lease assignment.
(12)
Cancellation of contract.
(13)
Certificate canceling tax sale.
(14)
Collateral deed.
(15)
Contract.
(16)
Court order.
(17)
Covenant or restriction.
(18)
Declaration.
(19)
Deed.
(20)
Easement.
(21)
Grant.
(22)
Judgment.
(23)
Lease.
(24)
Lis pendens.
(25)
Memorandum of extension of option to purchase.
(26)
Memorandum of lease.
(27)
Miscellaneous.
(28)
Modification of covenant or restriction.
(29)
Mortgage.
(30)
Option.
(31)
Order.
(32)
Patent.
(33)
Power of attorney as to specific property.
(34)
Receipt and release.
(35)
Receipt, release and satisfaction.
(36)
Release.
(37)
Release of covenant or restriction.
(38)
Release of easement.
(39)
Release of part of mortgaged premises.
(40)
Release of right of occupancy.
(41)
Release of water main or appurtenance.
(42)
Revocation of power of attorney as to specific property.
(43)
Satisfaction of collateral deed.
(44)
Satisfaction of mortgage.
(45)
Termination of assignment.
(46)
Termination of lease.
(47)
Will.
(48)
Such other instruments as the County Clerk may determine should
be endorsed with verified numbers.
C.
The County Clerk shall provide space in his office for personnel
and equipment of the Real Property Tax Service Agency assigned to
verify, and shall collect and account for the appropriate fees for
verification.
D.
It is intended, because of the importance of priority in the filing
and recording of certain instruments, that the verification process
will take but a few minutes at most. If the instrument offered for
filing or recording described property in such a way that it is not
readily identifiable in relation to existing maps, a temporary or
dummy number will be assigned consisting of district, section, Julian
date and a sequence number suffixing the Julian date, so as to conform
with § 316-a, Subdivision 5, of the Real Property Law. In
instances where multiple parcels are involved, a numbering device
may be employed to show inclusive sequential numbers or, in the same
district, section and block, nonsequential numbers without the repetition
of the district, section and block. A correction docket shall be maintained
for temporary numbers in which space will be provided for the entry
of corrected numbers after map changes are made and appropriate certificates,
affirmations or affidavits are filed.
E.
The Director of the Real Property Tax Service Agency is authorized
and directed to endorse on instruments offered for filing or recording
in the office of the County Clerk, as determined by such Clerk to
affect or pertain to the title of real property, numbers identifying
such property in relation to the Agency's maps and to verify such
endorsement by an appropriate stamp or other notation.
F.
The act of endorsement by the Director of the Real Property Tax Service
Agency, as stipulated above, shall not be construed as to cause validation
or invalidation of any conveyance of real property or to impair any
title founded on such conveyance or record, should the appropriate
map designation not appear or have been erroneously stated on such
conveyance.
G.
The Director of the Real Property Tax Service Agency is entitled,
for the verification of Tax Map numbers on instruments presented for
recording or filing, to a fee of $200 per parcel; for each additional
parcel a fee of $200 for each parcel, up to a dollar amount not to
exceed $5,000, payable to the County Clerk at the time of recording
or filing. In addition, the Director of the Real Property Tax Service
Agency is entitled, for the verification of Tax Map numbers on all
mortgage instruments, including but not limited to mortgages, supplemental
mortgages, refinance of mortgages, reverse mortgages, consolidations
of mortgages, modifications of mortgages, assignment of mortgages,
extension of mortgages, collateral mortgages, correction mortgages,
substitute mortgages, subordination of mortgages, satisfaction of
mortgages, alternative mortgages, miscellaneous mortgages, spreaders,
splitters, nomination agreements, building loan agreements, as well
as any other form of security agreement affecting real property, presented
for recording or filing, a separate and additional fee of $200 per
instrument, payable to the County Clerk at the time of recording or
filing.
[Amended 8-29-1989 by L.L. No. 30-1989; 1-2-1991 by L.L. No.
2-1991; 11-30-2001 by L.L. No. 24-2001; 12-20-2011 by L.L. No.
11-2012[1]; 5-8-2012 by L.L. No. 35-2012; 11-17-2015 by L.L. No. 34-2015; 9-7-2016 by L.L. No. 26-2016; 12-20-2016 by L.L.
No. 36-2016; 4-9-2019 by L.L. No. 19-2019; 4-12-2022 by L.L. No. 22-2022]
[1]
Editor’s Note: This local law was vetoed by the County
Executive 12-27-2011, which veto was overridden by the County Legislature
2-7-2012.
H.
For the purposes of the application of the foregoing fee schedule,
a parcel consisting of contiguous lots within the same district, section
and block shall be deemed as one parcel if so indicated in the instrument.
I.
The Legislature contemplates the possibility that the administration
of this section may give rise to the need for the adoption of rules
and regulations to change existing procedures in the respective offices
of the officials concerned. To harmonize interdepartmental operations
and to facilitate the use of the data by the public, the County Clerk,
the Director of the Real Property Tax Service Agency and the systems
analysis supervisor in the Data Processing Division of the office
of the County Executive are hereby constituted as a body and empowered
to make rules and regulations pertaining administratively to the implementation
of the verification process. No such rule or regulation shall change
or affect any function of the County Comptroller. Upon their adoption,
such rules and regulations shall be filed in the offices of the County
Executive, the Clerk of the County Legislature, the County Clerk and
the Director of Real Property Tax Service Agency.
[Amended 6-17-2014 by L.L. No. 32-2014]
J.
The County Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to make postrecording
and postfiling marginal notations on instruments relating to the correction
and updating of land parcel identifiers.
