Records Retention & Destruction° TETON COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES Revision: 3Date: 11/28/13
Records Retention Original Issue Date: 11/24/08
VP Number of Pages: 1
& Destruction Approved: BOCC
Teton County records must be retained according to Idaho Code 31-871, contractual requirements, and
county policies. County records may only be destroyed according to applicable law and only upon
Resolution by the Board after receiving advice from the County Prosecutor.
All questions regarding the retention or destruction of records should be directed to the responsible
Department Head or Elected Official. The Department Head or Elected Official should review the
Records Retention Manual and Records Retention Schedule prepared by the Idaho Association of
Counties in order to decide whether the records may be disposed of. If the Department Head or Elected
Official determines that the records may be disposed of, a records destruction request must be sent to the
County Prosecutor for review. The request shall include a detailed listing of the records to be destroyed.
The County Prosecutor will review the request and provide advice concerning the length of time that
specific records must be retained. If the records may be disposed of, a Resolution authorizing the
destruction of such records must be prepared and approved by the Board prior to the destruction of the
records.
However, if a digital version of a paper document has been created and retained in a searchable database,
the paper version may be destroyed without regard to the retention schedule and without a Resolution by
the Board.
Master copies of all paper and electronic records relating to Teton County business must be stored, kept
or saved on property owned or leased by Teton County. All email relating to Teton County business
should be done on the Teton County email system. Employees should not use personal email accounts for
Teton County business. If an employee creates electronic records, such as Word or Excel documents, on
hardware or software not owned by Teton County, the employee must ensure that a final version of such
electronic record is saved on the Teton County network.
Emails in an employee's "deleted" folder are automatically deleted from that folder after 60 days and are
permanently deleted from the server after 90 days. Emails in an elected official's "deleted" folder are
automatically deleted from that folder after 120 days and are permanently deleted from the server after
150 days. Emails in a "sent" folder are automatically deleted after 360 days.
The destruction of any county record that is related to ongoing, potential, threatened or reasonably
anticipated litigation is strictly prohibited. The destruction of any county record that must be retained for
any legal or contractual reason is also strictly prohibited. If any employee knows of ongoing, potential,
threatened or reasonably anticipated litigation that may be related to any county record, including any
electronic record, that is set to be destroyed or disposed of, that employee must inform the person
scheduling the records for destruction and the Department Head or Elected Official.