[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Washington County as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted by Ord. No. 2017-14 (Ch. 4, Subch. IV, § 4.32, of the 1998 Code)]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
AUTHORITY
Any of the following having custody of a record: an office, elected official, agency, board, commission, committee, council, department or public body corporate and politic, created by constitution, law, ordinance, rule or order; or a formally constituted subunit of the foregoing.
LEGAL CUSTODIAN
Has the meaning set forth in § 19.33, Wis. Stats., as amended, except that the County Clerk or his or her designee shall act as the legal custodian for the County Board and for all committees, commissions, boards, authorities, or subunits created by ordinance or resolution of the County Board unless otherwise prohibited by law.
RECORD
Has the meaning as set forth in § 19.32(2), Wis. Stats., as amended.
A. 
Except as provided in § 19.36, Wis. Stats., any person has a right to inspect a record and to make or receive a copy of any record as provided in § 19.35(1), Wis. Stats.
B. 
Records will be available for inspection and copying during all regular office hours, except as provided in Chapter 70, Officers and Employees, Article V, Register of Deeds, of the Code of Washington County.
C. 
If regular office hours are not maintained at the location where records are kept, the records will be available for inspection and copying upon at least 48 hours' advance notice of intent to inspect or copy.
D. 
A requester shall be permitted to use facilities comparable to those available to County employees to inspect, copy or abstract a record. This section does not authorize the purchase of equipment nor does it require the provision of a separate room for inspection, copying or abstracting of records.
E. 
The authority may require supervision during inspection or may impose other reasonable restrictions on the manner of access to an original record if the record is irreplaceable or easily damaged.
F. 
A requester may be charged a fee as set forth in § 19.35(3), Wis. Stats., as amended.
A request to inspect or copy a record shall be made to the authority. A request shall be deemed sufficient if it reasonably describes the requested record or the information requested. A request may be made orally, but a request must be in writing before an action to enforce the request is commenced under § 19.37, Wis. Stats. Except as otherwise provided by law, no request may be refused because the person making the request is unwilling to be identified or to state the purpose of the request. No request may be refused because the request is received by mail, unless prepayment of a fee is required under § 94-2F above. A requester may be required to show acceptable identification whenever the requested record is kept at a private residence or whenever security reasons or federal law or regulations so require.
[Adopted by Ord. No. 2005-28; amended in its entirety by Ord. No. 2017-14 (Ch. 4, Subch. IV, § 4.33, of the 1998 Code)]
The purpose of this article is to establish a County records retention schedule and authorize the destruction of records pursuant to the schedule. Records custodians may destroy a record prior to the time set forth in the schedule only if such a record has been reproduced as an original record pursuant to § 94-9 of this article. Any record not covered by this article and the related schedule or any other regulation or law shall be retained for at least seven years.
The terms "authority," "legal custodian" and "record" shall have those definitions contained in § 94-1 of this chapter of the Code of Washington County.
The State Historical Society of Wisconsin (SHSW) has waived the required statutory sixty-day notice under § 19.21(5)(d), Wis. Stats., for any record marked "W" (waived notice). The SHSW must be notified prior to destruction of a record marked "N" (nonwaived). Notice is also required for any record not listed in this section. "N/A" indicates not applicable and applies to any County record designated for permanent retention.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. IV)]
Records are maintained by the various departments in the County and are subject to uniform regulation unless otherwise specified. The retention period and authority are listed with each record in the general records schedule (GRS), as amended periodically by the Wisconsin Public Records Board and on file in the office of the County Clerk. To the extent that any record maintained by a department may be classified in more than one category in the GRS, the greater retention period shall apply.
Departments may keep, preserve, convert or transfer public records through the use of microfilm, optical disc storage, or any other electronic format, provided that the standards established in §§ 16.61(7) and 16.612, Wis. Stats., are met. After verification as provided in § 16.61(7)(a)5., Wis. Stats., occurs, an original record that has been converted or transferred may be destroyed and the existing record shall be deemed the original. The retention period for such records shall not be recommenced.