From time to time, Keane & Beane, P.C. issues Legal Alerts pertaining to new legislation or recent cases of interest. The State Archives is revising and consolidating its local government records retention and disposition schedule into a single comprehensive schedule for all types of governments. The new schedule was released on August 1, 2020. Local governments will need to adopt the new schedule by resolution by no later than January 1, 2021. Keane & Beane will be hosting a webinar on November 18, 2020 explaining the new schedule.
The new schedule will be titled “Retention and Disposition Schedule for New York Local Government Records” and known as LGS-1. This new schedule will supersede and replace the four existing records retention and disposition schedules:
- CO-2 Schedule used by counties (2006);
- MU-1 Schedule used by cities, towns, villages, and fire districts (2003);
- MI-1 Schedule used by miscellaneous local governments (2006); and
- ED-1 Schedule used by school districts, BOCES, County Vocational Education and Extension Boards, and Teacher Resource and Computer Training Centers (2004).
Before using the LGS-1 schedule, local governments (school districts, municipalities, fire districts, etc.) will need to adopt the LGS-1 schedule by approving a resolution, even if they have previously adopted one of the four existing schedules. A model resolution is available on the State Archives’ website. Local governments should keep a record of the date of adoption and maintain the resolution in their records. On January 1, 2021 the four existing schedules will expire, and if the LGS-1 is not adopted by resolution, the local government will not be permitted to legally destroy its records.
The new LGS-1 schedule is purported to assist with consistent retention and disposition of records for local governments and make necessary revisions easier. Each scheduled item contains the record series title, description, retention period and notes, and has both new numbers and the numbers of the four existing schedules to provide cross referencing. Each of the local government entities should keep in mind that not all of the sections will apply to each entity.
Some of the changes include:
- an added reference to the NYS Department of Health’s vital records (e.g., birth, marriage, death records etc.) and a summary of their retention and disposition requirements;
- an added subitem to housing maintenance/ building inspection records to accommodate minor building issues;
- consolidation of all the various executive items into one item, including city or village mayors, town supervisors, county executives, managers, or administrators, county sheriffs, police chiefs, and school superintendents; and
- the addition of a new item to cover questionnaires titled “Student Race & Ethnicity Update” which are sent to all parents.
A list of the various revisions can be viewed on the State Archives webpage. The State Archives webpage also provides a webinar series to help local governments, school districts and BOCES programs transition.
For more information local governments can contact Dennis Riley, the Regional Advisory Officer for the Catskill-Hudson Valley Region at (518) 474-6928 or Dennis.Riley@nysed.gov.
Should you have any questions about the new and pending LGS-1 schedule, please contact Suzanne Volpe any other attorney in our Municipal Law or Education Law Practice.
