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Proper Retention of Records

Physical Plant Operations would like to remind everyone that as a part of state government, we are all required to follow state practices concerning the proper retention of records. Throwing records away or destroying them without reviewing the retention schedules or notifying the Indiana Archives and Records Administration (if required) of their destruction is a violation of IC 5-15-5.1-10.

When emptying cabinets, cubicles, or other storage areas of files, please review the general retention schedule as well as your program area’s retention schedules before destroying or throwing away any potential records. If a schedule would be applicable to a file, please follow proper destruction/storage practices.

Examples of items that must follow record retention schedules: Handwritten notes about a project, PDFs of completed or partially completed forms, photos were taken for damage assessment, original copies (that have no back-ups) of plans, meeting agendas, etc.

Items that do not require the normal disposition process: Non-record materials – all identical copies of forms and records, reference books, and exhibit materials that are made, acquired or preserved solely for reference use, exhibition purposes or publication and that are not included within the definition of a record.

If you have any questions or need guidance in these practices, please contact the agency information coordinator, Marisa Bland at Marisa.Bland@fssa.in.gov