Source: http://www.archives.nysed.gov/records/mr_laws_reg185.shtml
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 11:30:07+00:00

Document:
(a) Records management officer means the local officer charged with the responsibility to develop and coordinate the local records management program in accordance with section 57.19 of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law.
(b) Records management program means an ongoing, coordinated, administrative effort to systematically manage a local government's records from initial creation to final disposition. A records management program includes, but is not limited to: the legal disposition of obsolete records; the identification and administration of and access to records of enduring value; filing and indexing systems; the use of computer or other technology in information creation, manipulation and storage; the storage and management of inactive records no longer needed for the conduct of day-to-day business in the office; the microfilming of records; the oversight of the creation and use of forms, correspondence and other records and the provision for protecting vital records.
(c) Records of enduring value (archival records) means those records worthy of permanent retention and special administration because of the importance of the information they contain for continuing administrative, legal, or fiscal purposes, or for historical or other research.
(d) Custody means the control of, and responsibility for, records owned by the local government, regardless of their location.
(e) Vital records means those records of a local government that are essential to its continuing operation. Vital records is not used in this context to mean official birth, death, or marriage records which are State records and duplicate those held by the State.
(f) State Archives means the New York State Archives, the organizational unit within the State Education Department which has responsibility to administer the local government records management program.
(g) Electronic records means those records stored on electronic media that can be read or processed only by means of a computer.
(h) Electronic information system means a computer-based system that supports the acquisition, creation, storage, processing, management of, and/or access to records.
§ 185.2 Designation and responsibilities of records management officers.
(a) Designation of records management officer.
(1) Each local government, except towns, villages and fire districts, shall designate one local officer to be records management officer.
(2) The governing body of each local government, except towns, villages, fire districts, shall notify the commissioner of the name, title or position in the local government, and contact information of the designated records management officer within one month of such designation.
(3) Each local government established, or notified by the commissioner that it constitutes a local government (as defined in section 57.17, Arts and Cultural Affairs Law), after April 30, 1989 shall designate a local officer as records management officer within 60 days of its establishment, or after the commissioner's notification. The governing body of each local government established, or notified by the commissioner that it constitutes a local government, after April 30, 1989 shall notify the commissioner of the name, title or position in the local government, and contact information of the designated records management officer within one month of such designation or notification.
(4) Municipal housing authorities and the Utica Transit Authority, the disposition and reproduction of whose records are subject to sections 59 and 60 of the Public Housing Law and sections 68 and 69 of the Transportation Law respectively, shall not be required to designate a records management officer pursuant to this section.
(5) Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens and Richmond counties shall not be required to designate a records management officer pursuant to this section.
(6) Community school districts located in New York City shall not be required to designate a records management officer pursuant to this section.
(7) The governing body of each town, village or fire district, shall notify the commissioner of the name and contact information of the town clerk, village clerk or fire district secretary, respectively, within one month of that person's taking office.
(b) Vacancy in the position of records management officer.
(1) Whenever a vacancy shall occur in the position of records management officer, a replacement shall be designated within 60 days.
(2) Within one month of such designation, the governing body of each local government shall notify the Commissioner of Education of the records management officer's name, title or position in the local government, and contact information.
(7) organizing or coordinating a program for the identification, administration and use of records of enduring value.
§ 185.3 Local Government Records Advisory Council.
(a) Membership of the Local Government Records Advisory Council.
(1) The council shall consist of 27 members selected with consideration to achieving balanced representation and diversity.
(2) In addition to selected members, the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Records, a representative of the chief administrative judge, and the New York City Clerk are permanent, statutory members of the Council. The New York City Clerk is a non-voting member of the Council.
(3) Members shall be appointed for four-year terms provided that the initial appointment to the council, commencing September 1, 1988 shall be for one, two, three or four years. Terms shall be staggered so that approximately an equal number of the council shall be appointed in any subsequent year.
(4) The commissioner shall designate the chairperson of the Local Government Records Advisory Council. The chairperson shall serve a two-year term and may be reappointed.
(5) Members of the council shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for necessary travel expenses.
(5) carrying out any other responsibilities assigned in statute.
(c) Secretariat of the Local Government Records Advisory Council. Government Records Services of the State Archives shall serve as secretariat of the Local Government Records Advisory Council, and the director of Government Records Services or a designee shall serve as its secretary.
§ 185.4 Development and use of records retention and disposition schedules.
(6) any other requirements imposed by law.
(b) Once the commissioner has issued a schedule and the local government has reviewed and adopted the schedule by formal resolution of the governing body, the schedule shall be used on a continuing basis by local officers to dispose of records. Consent to use the schedule shall remain in effect until the local government rescinds its authorizing resolution, the commissioner's consent is withdrawn, or the schedule is superseded and replaced by the commissioner.
§ 185.5 Issuance of records retention and disposition schedules.
(3) records retention and disposition schedule ED-1 (1988; rev. 2004), as set forth in section 185.12 of this Part and Appendix I of this Title, for school districts, boards of cooperative educational services, teacher resource and computer training centers and county vocational education and extension boards.
(1) Records retention and disposition schedule CO-2 (1990; rev. 2006), as set forth in section 185.13 of this Part and Appendix J of this Title, is adopted for records of counties.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, a local government may adopt and use a records retention and disposition schedule or individual schedule items in lieu of or in conjunction with a schedule issued by the commissioner provided that the consent of the commissioner is obtained pursuant to this subdivision. The commissioner may grant such consent upon a finding that the local records retention and disposition schedule or schedule item(s) is substantially equivalent to the applicable schedule(s) issued by the commissioner or meets standards of the commissioner as specified in section 185.4 of this Part. Such consent shall remain in effect until the commissioner withdraws permission to use the schedule or the local government indicates it is no longer using the schedule.
§ 185.6 Special approvals for disposition of records.
(a) Records not listed on a records retention and disposition schedule. Records not listed on a records retention and disposition schedule shall not be disposed of without the approval of the commissioner. Whenever a local government record is identified as not being listed on a records retention and disposition schedule, the commissioner, in accordance with section 57.25(2) of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, will determine the minimum length of time the record needs to be retained and issue an amendment to all appropriate schedules.
(c) Disposition of records predating 1910. No local government may dispose of records predating 1910 without special approval of the commissioner. In determining whether such approval shall be granted, the commissioner shall consider whether the records for which disposition is sought substantially duplicate information contained in other records being retained, possess significant intrinsic value, have significant and enduring value for research and are in appropriate physical condition for use in research. This provision shall also apply to the disposition of original records predating 1910 which have been reproduced by microphotography or other means.
(d) Disposition of employee disciplinary, investigative and performance evaluation records. Notwithstanding any minimum retention period set forth in a records retention and disposition schedule issued by the commissioner pursuant to this Part, a local government may dispose of, or remove certain information from specified employee disciplinary, investigative and performance evaluation records, prior to the time when the appropriate minimum retention period has expired, when this disposition or removal is based on a provision of a collective bargaining agreement in effect between a local public employer and a public employee labor organization.
§ 185.7 Replacing original records with microforms or electronic images.
(a) Negative microphotographic film. When a microform will replace an original record having a legal minimum retention period of 10 years or longer and when the local government still must maintain it for at least 10 years to meet this requirement, or when the records being microphotographed are identified on a records retention and disposition schedule as having a permanent retention period, only a polyester-based black and white silver gelatin microform shall be used as the original camera negative film.
(b) Preservation of the camera negative. When a microform will replace an original record, the camera negative shall be used only to produce duplicate copies of the film. Once the duplicates have been made, the camera negative film must be placed in an offsite storage facility that meets standards established by the Commissioner of Education for security, fire protection and environmental control to ensure the preservation of the information on the microform.
(c) Microforms to meet quality standards. When a microform will replace an original record, the microform shall meet quality standards established by the commissioner for resolution and density to ensure that the film and copies made from it will be clear and legible and to ensure the long-term viability of the film.
(1) The records to be filmed shall be arranged and identified to ensure reasonable access to individual documents.
(2) Each discrete roll of original negative film and each discrete original negative fiche shall begin with a target identifying the records being filmed and certifying that the records are being filmed in the normal course of business. Each shall end with a signed declaration by the camera operator identifying the date of filming and the office for whom the film is being produced.
(3) In addition, each roll of film must have the following targets at the beginning of the roll: density target, resolution target and start target.
(4) In addition, each roll of film shall have an end target at the end of each roll.
(5) Where needed, roll film shall contain retake and correction targets.
(e) Inspection of microforms. A representative sample of all microforms shall be quality inspected to ensure that the film images meet quality standards set by the commissioner. Each batch of processed film shall be tested to ensure that processing chemicals which could cause image deterioration are washed from the film. Film and film images that do not meet standards must be reshot before the original document may be destroyed.
(f) Digital images of public records. Digital images of public records may be stored on electronic media, and such electronic records may replace paper originals or micrographic copies of these records. In order to ensure accessibility and intelligibility for the life of these records, local governments must follow the procedures described in section 185.8 of this Part.
§ 185.8 Retention and preservation of electronic records.
(a) A local government shall ensure that records retention requirements are incorporated into any plan and process for design, redesign, or substantial enhancement of an information system that stores electronic records.
(b) A local government shall ensure that electronic records are not rendered unusable because of changing technology before their retention and preservation requirements are met. In the case of archival electronic records, a local government, in consultation with the State Archives, must determine that the records will remain usable and accessible by ensuring that the records are retained in currently available file formats and by creating adequate documentation of the records and their systems as defined in subdivision (c) of this section.
(7) ensure the ongoing retention of records by the local government.
(d) A local government shall prepare and store in a secure off-site facility copies of archival electronic records in order to safeguard against loss.
(6) prepare external labels to identify each media unit, the name of the organizational unit responsible for the records, and the records title.
§ 185.9 Storage of records in non-local government facility.
Agreements for storage of local government records in facilities other than those owned or maintained by the local government shall meet criteria established by the commissioner and must be approved by the commissioner.
§ 185.10 Local government records management improvement grants.
(2) adopted the applicable records retention and disposition schedule(s) issued by the commissioner pursuant to section 57.25 of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law and section 185.5 of this Part. This requirement shall not apply to municipal housing authorities, to the Utica Transit Authority nor to community school districts located in New York City.
(b) Applications. The local government shall submit an application, including a proposed budget, in a form prescribed by the commissioner, and by the dates prescribed by the commissioner.
(c) The commissioner shall award grants to eligible applicants in accordance with the operational and expenditure plan adopted pursuant to section 57.35(4) of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law and the criteria specified in section 57.35(2) of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law. In addition, the commissioner shall consider the applicant's commitment to provide ongoing support for records management activities after the grant funding ends.
(11) carrying out emergency projects to rescue or save endangered records.
(7) the cost of contractual services directly needed for the project.
§ 185.11 Records retention and disposition schedule MU-1, 1988; rev. 2003 (see Appendix H of this Title).
§ 185.12 Records retention and disposition schedule ED-1, 1988; rev. 2004 (see Appendix I of this Title).
§ 185.13 Records retention and disposition schedule CO-2, 1990; rev. 2006 (see Appendix J of this Title).
§ 185.14 Records retention and disposition schedule MI-1, 1988; rev. 2006 (see Appendix K of this Title).

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