Local Government Retention Schedule to Be Released in October

Georgia Archives is in the process of updating the local government retention schedule and plans on presenting it to the State Records Committee for adoption in October. This schedule provides a list of common type records maintained by local governments and a recommended retention schedule for those records. Record retention practices are very important to the management of open records request and record storage.

Since 1984, counties have been required to adopt a record retention schedule as provided in O.C.G.A. § 50-18-99 (d) and (e). In 2015, ACCG conducted a survey on county record management practices. Of the 93 survey respondents, only 56 counties indicated that they had adopted a record retention schedule as required by state law. Until a county adopts their own record retention schedule, they are required to follow the local government retention schedule that is provided by Georgia Archives. While some counties may have adopted their own schedule, others may have adopted the local government retention schedule as their schedule. As such, the release of the new schedule will have an impact on most counties.

ACCG is currently in the process of reviewing the proposed schedule and has asked certain county records experts to assist in the review as well. If your county wants to review the proposed schedule, please contact Natalie Fitzgerald at nfitzgerald@accg.org and a copy will be provided. All comments need to be submitted to ACCG no later than August 22, 2016 so they can be included in our report.

Georgia Archives will be providing training on the new schedule once it has been adopted by the State Records Committee. ACCG will release the training schedule and the local government retention schedule once available to ensure that counties are aware of the requirements.