Any official records created or received during the course of  __[name of congregation]__   business are considered to be the property of this congregation and not of individual employees or members. To ensure the appropriate and timely final disposition of materials, the following considerations and procedures are to be followed:

All congregation records (current and non-current) in any format, whether paper, electronic, microform, etc., fall under this policy.

All records should be inventoried and assessed as to their operational, legal, fiscal, and historical values. Create a records retention schedule according to these assessments.

All records should be retained in a designated filing area until they are transferred to the archives or can be destroyed according to guidelines and the records retention schedule that have been developed.

Final disposition of the records, that is, permanent retention or destruction, will be authorized by the congregation council, in consultation with the records creators and advice of the archives committee (and archivist*).

Appropriate records and archives transmittal forms will be utilized in maintaining a record of permanent accessions, as well as for records that were authorized for destruction.

*A congregation may choose to create either a committee for the archives or appoint an archivist