No public record other than office files and memoranda of any local government agency shall be destroyed until it is six years old or until the six-year retention is reduced by the local records committee for records that are shown by the requesting agency that a six-year retention is both unnecessary and uneconomical or that a lesser federal retention guideline has been established; or until the record has been authorized for microfilming or for conversion to any other document imaging system approved by the state archivist.

Except as otherwise provided by law, no public record, including office files and memoranda, shall be destroyed until approved for destruction by the local records committee. Reference chapter 40.14 RCW.

Requests to destroy public records in the possession of local government agencies shall be approved only by the local records committee and shall be of two types as further set forth in these regulations; namely:

(1) Listed nonrecurring authorization; and

(2) Recurring disposition schedules.

County, municipal, and other local government agencies may request authority to destroy noncurrent public records having no further administrative or legal value by submitting to the local records committee lists of such records on forms provided by the division of archives and records management. Such lists, when approved by the local records committee, constitute authority to destroy the specifically dated records indicated. Listed authorizations are valid only for the dates specified and are not recurring for subsequently dated records without submittal of a new list.

A local government agency, as an alternative to submitting lists, may elect to establish a records control program based on recurring disposition schedules recommended by the agency to the local records committee. The schedules are to be submitted on forms provided by the division of archives and records management, to the local records committee, which may either veto, approve, or amend the schedule. Approval of such schedules or amended schedules shall be by unanimous vote of the local records committee.

The local records committee may approve and issue records retention/disposition schedules which shall constitute authority to dispose of specific records, held commonly by like agencies, after a required retention period, on a recurring basis until the schedule is either amended or revised by the committee.

The state archivist may furnish suggestions and guidelines to local governmental agencies for their assistance in the preparation of lists and schedules and may furnish information relating to any other matter relating to the retention, preservation, or destruction of public records. Such guidelines may be published and include suggestions relative to the minimal retentions of records and recommendations for microfilming. The guidelines are suggestive only and are not records destruction authorizations.