Regarding records destruction practices at his company, Wayne Hoff stated that there is "one record series with only 6 months retention.  It is a high volume record, and our business units want all 7-month-old piles toss to free up file space."  He further observed, "it is a lot of work and a lot of signatures to cycle through.  On top of that, the BU has a better idea of any current or pending legal matters than our Legal office."  And he asked:  "Any thoughts on what might make the process go more easily?"

Harris County has this problem in spades.  Heck, some Juvenile and Library records must be destroyed as soon as they are closed.  

I addressed this problem by including in the County's comprehensive records control schedule General Provisions #5:

"Departments and the Records Management Officer must obtain authorization to destroy and document the destruction of official county records in accordance with the Records Management Policy and Plan and procedures adopted under it.  It is an exception to this policy, however, that this Records Control Schedule is sufficient authorization for Departments to destroy any record with a retention period of 1 year or less unless it is subject to a legal or audit hold or is responsive to a pending Public Information Act Request."    

The County Attorney and County Auditor both signed off on the Records Control Schedule so we are all satisfied that it is both rational and legally defensible.

Paul R. Scott, CA, CRM
Records Management Officer
Harris County, TX

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