Last week was Records Management Week in our organization. It is a week set aside each year in which we clean up our files. We also take the opportunity during this week to clean up our work stations, keyboards, telephones, electronic files and other office equipment.
This year we added a theme to Records Management Week. The theme was “Keep or Toss”. We added the theme to add a little glitz and glamour to what is, ordinarily, a rather dry subject matter. We played up the theme as if it were a schlocky TV game show with activities throughout the week around the general theme of learning (or remembering) what to “keep” in our permanent files and what to “toss” into the garbage or recycling bin.
There are state requirements concerning how long the City must retain almost every piece of information we create or process here at City Center. The requirements vary from zero to forever. Retaining information is something that government must be good at. We’ve got lots of it around here. But, if we did not purge our files of superfluous information occasionally, we’d soon run out of storage space for the information we are required to maintain.
We rely on our City Clerk Kitty Porta to provide us guidance on records retention issues. She is also in charge of the annual Records Management Week too. She does a great job keeping us somewhat organized and within the good graces of the state’s records retention requirements.
Thanks Kitty.
