Local Government Record Managers

The Maine State Archives, through the Archives Advisory Board, establishes rules for the disposition of local government records. It is against the law to sell or give away government records in Maine. The rules are adopted pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act. Comments and suggestions for changes or additions may be directed to the Director of Records Management Services at 207-287-5799 or by e-mail .

The context for the rules may be found in the introductory section. General schedules for local governments identify records often crossing agency boundaries. Schedules covering specific agencies, including schools , are found in the attachments .

Municipalities no longer need to submit an annual list of records destroyed. It is advisable, though, to keep such a list on file to document their destruction according to schedule.

The Board handles most requests for permission to destroy records by adding to its Rules for Disposition of Local Government Records . A truly unique, discrete batch of records may be given one-time permission to destroy. A record series may be added to the schedule, or retention periods changed for records already listed.

The Application for Approval as an Alternative Repository for Local Government Records begins the process to authorize a historical society or library to legally hold town or county records. (See the related Model Agreement .) Currently, these are the approved Alternative Repositories .

Please feel free to contact Nina.Osier@maine.gov (207-287-5799) if you have questions, problems, or suggestions.

This page was last updated on August 31, 2005.

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Local Government Record Managers