> The State of Illinois does require that each agency,
> municipality, etc. have
> a records management program in effect and that includes setting up
> retention schedules for all records held by the unit.

> My experience in Illinois is that very few of the
> many local governmental units (including the City of Chicago and the
> County of Cook) have ever bothered to do the same.

While the second statement is probably true for a large number of local
governments throughout the U.S., the two statements taken together is sad.
If the State requires a records management program be in effect, and even
provides resources to develop the retention schedule, then it should not be
too onerous for the locality to establish a basic RIM policy that includes
applying the retention schedule, who signs off on requests for destruction,
periodic review of the schedule for currency and pertinence, FOIA
procedures, privacy policies, e-mail retention policies, etc.  They don't
even need to establish a separate RIM position (although that is the wisest
course), but assign the responsibilities to an existing position.  There is
just no excuse for violating a state requirement.

Ginny Jones
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM)
Records Manager
Information Technology Division
Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities
Newport News, VA
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