DATED: 1988

SECTION 1. DEPARTMENT, OFFICER. There shall be a Records
Management Program established under the aegis of the Department of
History and Archives, and headed by a Records Management Officer
(RMO). The officer will be responsible for administering the
non-current and archival public records and storage areas for the
County of Montgomery in accordance with local, state and federal
laws and guidelines. Such officer shall also be the County
Historian the individual appointed to this position shall have a
term of five (5) years commencing as of January 1, 1989.

SECTION 2. POWERS AND DUTIES. The officer shall have all the
necessary powers to carry out the efficient administration,
determination of value, use, preservation, storage and disposition
of the non-current and archival public records kept, filed or
received by the offices and departments of the County.
(A) The officer shall continually survey and examine public
records to recommend their classification so as to determine the
most suitable methods to be used for the maintaining, storing and
servicing of archival material:
(1) Obsolete and unnecessary records according to New
York State Records Retention and Disposition Schedules
thereby subject to disposition; or
(2) Information containing administrative, legal,
fiscal, research historical or educational value which
warrant their permanent retention; or
(3) Records not subject to disposition according to
state law.
(B) Establish guidelines for proper records management in any
department or agency of the County in accordance with local, state
and federal laws and guidelines.

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(C) Report annually to the Board of Supervisors and the
County Administrator on the powers and duties herein mentioned
including, but not limited to, the cost/benefit ratio of programs
effectuated by the department.
(0) The officer shall operate a County Archives/Records
Management repository and perform the following functions:
(1) Advise and assist County departments in reviewing
and selecting material to be transferred to the County
Archives for preservation.
(2) Continually survey and examine public records to
determine the most suitable methods to be used for
creating, maintaining, storing, and servicing 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, subject to the approval of
the Board of Supervisors.
(5) Develop a confidentiality policy for archival
records designated confidential, providing such policy
does not conflict with any federal or state statues,
subject to the approval of the Board of Supervisors.
(6) Provide information services to other County
offices.
(7) Collect archival materials which are not official
County records but which have associational value to the
County or a close relationship to the existing archival
collection. Such collecting shall be subject to Archives
space, staff, and cost limitations, and to the potential
endangerment of such materials if they are not collected
by the Archives.
(8) Develop a procedure whereby historically important
records are to be identified at the point of generation.

SECTION 3. CUSTODY
(A) A County department is the legal custodian of its records
and shall retain custody of records deposited in a records
repository. Records transferred to or acquired by the Archives
shall be under the custody and control of the Archives rather than
the department which created or held them immediately prior to being
transferred to the Archives.
(8) Records shall be transferred to the Archives upon the
recommendation of the RMO, with the approval of the head of the
department which has custody of the records.
(C)  Records may be permanently removed from the Archives at
the request of the RMO or the head of the department which had
custody of the records immediately prior to the transfer of those
records to the Archives.

SECTION 4. DISPOSAL OF RECORDS. No records shall be destroyed
or otherwise disposed of by a department of the County unless
approval has been obtained from the Records Management Officer. No
records shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by the Records
Management Officer without the express written consent of the
department head having authority.

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SECTION 5. DEFINITIONS.
{A) "Archives" means those official records which have been
determined by the Records Management Officer to have sufficient
historical or other value to warrant their continued preservation by
the County.
(8) "Records" means any 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 connection with the transactions of official County business.
(C) "Records management" means the planning, controlling,
directing, organizing, training, promotion and other managerial use
and records disposition, including, records preservation, records
disposal and records centers or other storage facilities.
(D) "Records disposition" means:
(1) The removal by the County, in accordance with approved
records control schedules, of records no longer necessary for the
conduct of business by such agency through removal methods which may
include:
(i) The disposal of temporary records by destruction or
donation; or
(ii) The transfer of records, to a Records Center/Archives
for temporary storage of inactive records and permanent
storage of records determined to have historical or other
sufficient value warranting continued preservation; and
(2) The transfer of records from one County department to any
other County department.
(E) “Records repository" means an establishment maintained by
the County primarily for the storage, servicing, security and
processing of records which must be preserved for varying periods of
time and need not be retained in office equipment or space.
(F) "Servicing" means making information in records available
to any County department for official use or to the public.

SECTION 6. SAVINGS CLAUSE.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part of this
Local Law shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction
to be invalid, such judgment, decree or order shall be-confined in
its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision,
section or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in
which such judgment, decree or order shall have been rendered and
the remainder of this Local Law shall not be affected thereby and
shall remain in full force and effect.

'SECTION 7. This Local Law shall take effect as of January 1,
1989.