IARA County/Local Records Management - 44905 Process

Hello Clerks and staff,

State Form 44905 - Notice of Destruction of County/Local Government Records in Accordance with an Approved Retention Schedule

If your record series says to DESTROY records after a certain time period, the process for doing that in a legal manner starts with making sure that your records have reached the end of that time period, and met any additional requirements.

Destruction Date

To calculate the date when records become eligible for destruction if all other requirements are met, start with the month/year date of the latest records in a box, then add the period specified in the retention schedule, plus one month.

          Example: CL 10-17 (BAIL AGENT LICENSE/POWER OF ATTORNEY) says to DESTROY three (3) years after expiration of license. If the latest license file in a box expired in March, 2014, then the contents of the box may be destroyed in April, 2017.

Disposition Process

Once you've calculated the correct dates, the rest of the process for the originating office is simple:
1) Fill out State Form 44905, Notice of Destruction of County/Local Government Records in Accordance With an Approved Retention Schedule.
2) Send the Notice of Destruction to IARA's County/Local Records Management section at the listed address. (Keep a copy.)
3) Wait 30 days.
4) If IARA has not contacted you with questions/requests for correction after 30 days, you may destroy the records.
          a) IARA will only contact you if there's a question or problem, or if they believe the records have historical value and would like you to transfer them to the Indiana Archives.
          b) If you are contacted, IARA will work with you to solve the issues and let you know when you can destroy the records, or they'll ask you to to follow the process to get them transferred to the Archives.
5) How you destroy your records is up to you or your office's administrators, but confidential records must be destroyed completely and in a manner that doesn't expose them to unauthorized viewers while they're being destroyed.
6) Fill in the date of the actual destruction and related information on your copy of the Notice of Destruction.
7) Send a copy of the completed form to the Secretary of your County Commission of Public Records. If you don't know who that is, it's either your County Clerk or your County Recorder; you can contact their office(s) to confirm.
8) Maintain your copy of the Notice of Destruction permanently in your office under Record Series GEN 20-1.

Hope this helps explain the 44905, let me know of any questions!

AMY CHRISTIANSEN JANICKI

Records Management Liaison

Indiana Archives and Records Administration

o: 812-929-3882

e: achristiansenjanicki@iara.in.gov |

w: www.in.gov/iara

a: 402 W Washington St, Room W472, Indianapolis, IN 46204

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