Records Management, Archives, and Retention Compliance
This domain tests the records lifecycle, how retention schedules actually work, and how to respond lawfully to a public records request without destroying evidence. Items often present a familiar record type in an unfamiliar format and ask whether it is a public record and what happens next.
Records are defined by content, not format
Any recorded information, regardless of medium, that documents the transaction of public business is a public record: paper, email, text messages, voicemail, database entries, photographs, and social media posts. Personal devices and personal accounts do not change the analysis when the content concerns public business.
The retention schedule is a minimum, not a maximum
Schedules set minimum retention periods and are triggered by an event: fiscal year end, case closure, contract expiration, supersession, or permanent status. Destruction is authorized only after the trigger passes and only through an approved process.
Legal hold and destruction
A pending request, litigation, audit, or investigation suspends all destruction of related records. Lawful destruction is documented: what series, date range, method (cross-cut shred, secure wipe, certified vendor), and who authorized it. Permanent and archival series transfer to the archives rather than being destroyed.
Public records requests
Acknowledge promptly, search all custodians and systems including email and texts, redact only under a cited exemption, release in the requested format when feasible, and charge only the adopted fee schedule. Denials should cite the specific statutory exemption in writing.
Worked example
A council member texts the clerk from a personal phone about an upcoming budget vote. Because the message documents the transaction of public business, it is a public record, must be captured into the official records system, and follows the schedule for council correspondence. Deleting it after a request arrives is potential spoliation, even though the phone is personally owned.
Traps that cost marks
Assuming personal devices are outside the law; destroying records on a convenience schedule; treating retention as a deadline to delete; redacting without citing an exemption; releasing only what is easy to find instead of searching every custodian.