The Records Management and Preservation Board (RMPB) awarded $330,480 in grant funds to seventeen West Virginia county commissions for county records management and preservation projects through its County Records Management and Preservation Grants program. The board made its recommendations in January and grant award letters for projects that will introduce improved management and storage conditions for the counties' official public records were sent to the seventeen counties in early March. Grant awards range from $7,230 to $53,000. Eight of the seventeen counties also received funds through the first annual round of grants in fiscal year 2004-2005. A complete list of recipients is attached.
The RMPB, with its continuing interest in addressing records storage and management issues in the court houses, announced three grant criteria in its invitation to applicants last September. The three criteria were: remove non-records and accumulations of records having reached or exceeded required retention periods; provide proper and improved storage of permanent or long-term records; and conduct a total records inventory and condition assessment, and develop a master records management plan for county records.
The County Records Management and Preservation Program receives its funding from records filing fees collected by county clerks. The funds serve as monetary incentives to equip county officials to improve conditions for the preservation of their public records.
The RMPB was created by the W. Va. Legislature in 2000 to develop uniform county records management programs. Its primary focus is to establish guidelines and provide technical assistance to address the needs of the records of county governments through a uniform records management system, and to further encourage adoption of these goals through the county records grant program. In pursuit of these goals the RMPB has authorized a statewide survey and report on the current state of county records, developed rules and a County Records Management Manual for county offices, and sponsored records management workshops for county officials and staffs.
For more information about the Records Management and Preservation Board's annual grant program or the work of the RMPB, contact Fredrick H. Armstrong, state archivist with the West Virginia State Archives, by phone at (304) 558-0230, ext. 164, by e-mail at fharmstrong@wvculture.org, or by mail at Records Management and Preservation Board, West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Building 9, 1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East, Charleston, WV 25305-0300. Information can be accessed electronically at www.wvculture.org/history/rmpb/rmbp.html .
Records Management and Preservation Board