| Appraisal of Charles County (License Record) series:
MSA T2163 - CHARLES COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (License Record)
This series covers 1878-1982. There are no other License Record Volumes after 1982 at MSA. The OAG has contacted the Charles County Circuit Court directly, and was informed by a clerk, that there are no license records between 1982-1994. As of November 24, 2001, Dr. Papenfuse and the Director of the Maryland State Archives, Records Appraisal Program, Pat Melville, summarized their findings in regard to license records for Charles County and disposal authorization certificates relating thereto:
"The timing of transfer of permanent records to the State Archives is generally up to the agency that creates the original record. It is not unusual for agencies to keep permanent records for twenty years or more depending upon reference needs. This policy places the burden of maintaining permanent records that have not been transferred to the Archives on the agency. The Archives has no resources to ensure that the agency retaining permanent records performs its duties according to law. Its only means of discovering failure to maintain permanent records is at the point of a request for transfer of permanent records, which traditionally comes when agencies run out of space or decides to undertake a general house cleaning.
The Charles County clerk's office reports that it does not have license record books for the years after 1982, the ending date for MSA T2163, even though by Records Retention and Disposal Schedules, these records are deemed permanent.[Pat: are we sure about this?]
The Attorney General's
office, upon being given this information, requested confirmation from the Archives.
No public records are permitted to be destroyed without the prior approval of the State Archivist and the Hall of Records Commission as determined by Records Retention and Disposal Schedules. In the case of court records, clerks must submit a proposed records disposal certificate in advance of destruction for the approval of the State Archivist and then must return a copy of the disposal certificate signed by the clerk upon completion of the approved destruction.
The first retention schedule, No. C33, dealing with Charles County license
records, was signed in 1955. Item 2 authorized the destruction of license
stubs and copies after 3 years or audit. The license books containing recorded license information were listed as permanent. Under this schedule one disposal certificate was filed and approved by the State Archivist and the Hall of Records Commission. As of this date (11/24/01), the certificate signed by the clerk has not been located. Certificates signed by the clerks are not returned to the Maryland State Archives but to the Records Management Division of the Department of General Services which has legal responsiblity for documenting the disposal of non-permanet records. According to the official record of approved disposition in the minutes of the Hall of Records Commission, [ECP to supply date from the HRC Minutes] the Charles County Records approved for destruction were liquor licenses, 1968-1973, and traders licenses, 1970-1971. The record volumes for those records exist and can be consulted at the Maryland State Archives.
A revised retention schedule, No. 655, applied to all district and circuit
courts in the state and was approved in 1977. Section II, Item 1 specifies
license record books as permanent. Section II, Item 6 makes license copies
and stubs disposable after 3 years and audit. Under this schedule the
Charles County clerk's office submitted 6 disposal certificates, pertaining
to licenses as described in Schedule 655, Sec. II, Item 6, between 1978 and
2000. They encompass copies of liquor licenses for 1974-1975 and 1986-1990
and copies of business licenses for 1973-1976, 1986-1988, and 1991-1996.
In , when the Court transferred the 1977-1979 license volume it proved to be blank and was destroyed. The Maryland State Archives currently has no other source for license records for this time period, as the original certificates are not permanent records, per retention schedule No. 655.
It would appear that the Court chose to discontinue recording licenses in permanent record form [between 1982 and 1994? the present?--Pat: are they doing what they should be doing now? Have we approved any further destruction of original license records?]. The Clerk's signature on the disposal certificate for the original licenses constitutes an assurance that the permanent records were being maintained, clearly something the agency failed to do for [ ] years.
[PM 11/9/01; ECP 11/24/01]"
[JH 11/21/01; ECP 11/24/01]
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