08:25:00 Record Retention and Disposal

Purpose

To establish guidelines for storing and destroying official records.

Policy

Walters State Community College follows guidance set forth by the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) in Guideline G-070 concerning the retention and disposal of records. The Tennessee Public Records Commission Rule 1210-1-2 provides definitions and the Records Management Office of the Tennessee Secretary of State provides more detailed information about the retention and disposal of various types of records. Grant records should be maintained according to the requirements of the grantor agency.

Unless otherwise required by law, records may be imaged, microfilmed, or electronically reproduced. Paper copies may be destroyed upon verification of an archival quality reproduction; however, some form of the record must be retained for the stated retention period. In the event of a conflict between retention periods specified by TBR and federal law, the period of longer retention shall apply.

Any records designated as “confidential” shall be so treated in maintenance, storage, and disposition and shall be destroyed in a manner that they cannot be read, interpreted, or reconstructed. Destruction must follow the college’s approved procedures.

Disposal of Records

Duplicate or extra copies of documents may be kept in other locations for convenience or reference. According to TBR G-070 definitions, these versions of official documents are considered non-records and are excluded from the record retention and disposal requirements. These documents should be properly destroyed when no longer used for business purpose; however, no record should be destroyed so long as it pertains to any legal case, claim, or action or to any federal or state audit until such actions have been concluded.

Each major college unit should designate a record officer who has the authority and responsibility to identify records for disposal subject to this guideline and approval by the State Public Records Commission (see TBR Guideline G-070).  If records must be stored for a period of time before disposal, the records may be moved to the college’s secure records storage area located at the Public Safety Center.  Before the records can be moved to storage, they must be packed in appropriate file boxes and labeled with the following information:

• College Unit (division/department)
• Title or Type of Records
• Date of Disposal

A work order should be submitted to Facilities Management in order to have the records moved to storage.

Once the records reach the disposal date, the designated record officer for each college unit should complete and submit a Record Disposal Authorization (RDA) Form (Appendix E) to the Assistant Director for Facilities Scheduling and Auxiliary Services, who is the college’s records officer. The college’s records officer will determine if the records meet the appropriate requirements for disposal. Once approved by the college’s records officer, the RDA Form will be forwarded to the Director of Internal Audit and the Chief Executive Officer to determine if the action should be delayed due to audit or litigation requirements. No college records may be destroyed without a fully approved Record Disposal Authorization Form.

Records and duplicate records can only be disposed of by state-approved methods, which include shredding or burning.  9/06; 1/15: 5/16; 3/17