Shredding old documents -- Zions Bank?

This is my first year as ward clerk, and I am trying to find a good way to shred the documents from 2002-2004 that are taking up space in a filing cabinet in the office.

I read somewhere that Zions will shred old documents once per year per ward; is that true? Is there a number I call to get that done? Manually shredding these in our 3-pages-at-a-time shredder will take too long.

Thanks.

I don't know about that, I live too far away to know. But there are various community groups that sponsor shredding - usually around the first of the year.

lahimatoa wrote:This is my first year as ward clerk, and I am trying to find a good way to shred the documents from 2002-2004 that are taking up space in a filing cabinet in the office.

If you're in the US, be sure also to include documents from 2005-2010 in your shredding party.

Mikerowaved wrote:

lahimatoa wrote:This is my first year as ward clerk, and I am trying to find a good way to shred the documents from 2002-2004 that are taking up space in a filing cabinet in the office.

If you're in the US, be sure also to include documents from 2005-2010 in your shredding party.

Yes, absolutely. Apparently the last clerk did a good job with those, but there is a second filing cabinet that he apparently forgot to check while he was in charge.

As another possible option (depending on where you live): When I was clerk, a bishopric counselor had a burn barrel on his property that we were able to utililze. You can wear out (or overheat) a small shredder trying to get rid of a whole year's worth of records.

davesudweeks wrote:As another possible option (depending on where you live): When I was clerk, a bishopric counselor had a burn barrel on his property that we were able to utililze. You can wear out (or overheat) a small shredder trying to get rid of a whole year's worth of records.

Have a bishopric bonfire!

I heated my house with old documents

-- >> Is it true that we are no longer allowed to take stuff to a third party for shredding. Can anyone give me a link to the official policy, please?

I ask because,
I have been cleaning out the discontinued Stake office in the church building I attend at.
There are documents going back to 1995.
A counselor in the current Stake Presidency told me today that his understanding is that we are not allowed to take material to a third party to shred.
"So you better get shredding."

Before this, my ward merged with another ward in this same building.
Being a clerk I ended up taking a car load of very heavy "Bankers Boxes" to Office Depot for shredding.

And before that, as a newly called Financial clerk I cleaned out the clerks 4 drawer file cabinet and shredded years & years & years worth of old documents.
When the shredder overheated I had to wait for it to cool down.

Now as the ward clerk I make sure we keep only the past 3 plus the current years documents.

PS: I don't have a fireplace or outside fire pit.

I note this excerpt from the General Handbook, Section 33.9.3:

Records that have potential historical value should not be discarded, destroyed, or placed in the ward resource center (library). Questions about the historical value of records may be addressed to the Church History Library (see contact information in 33.7.2).

If the records to 1995 are only financial, shredding makes sense. If there are other records of historical value, it might be worth a consult with the CHL if they would like them.

Also in 33.9.3:

Records that are outdated or no longer needed should be destroyed in such a way that the information cannot be retrieved or reconstructed.

Call me paranoid, but I'd prefer that it be destroyed in a way that I can see it done, rather then handing it off to a low-paid employee were boredom and curiosity might get the better of them. I have used Office Max in the past when helping to clean out a deceased relatives house, but all the accounts were either closed or transferred to the next of kin.

Given the quantity you're dealing with, I'd call around for a commercial shredding company. It wouldn't be a bad idea for the stake to spring for the shredding and have all the wards bring in their old stuff to add to the pile.

If anyone told me I'd have to use the shredder that FM provides for that job, I'd invite them to join me.

As for historical records, keep an eye out for Melchizedek Priesthood ordinations. The church wasn't recording the "ordained by" for a time, so there's gaps in some member's line of authority. I don't remember the years, but as quick search in the forum indicates "early 90s".

I would ask the Bishop for permission to get the old clerks who should have shredded all this stuff to help you, but that's just me. Probably not authorized as they are not supposed to see the financial stuff any more.

A shredding sage update;

I asked the Stake Clerk about taking the discontinued Stake, documents to Office Depot.
He asked the FM group and was told that we are not allowed to take stuff to a third party and must shred everything in house.

The Stake Presidents 1st counselor was at this building on Sunday. He saw the huge pile (multiple Bankers boxes) and confirmed I could not take it out for shredding.

This is confidential stuff. Reports from the First Presidency about disciplinary actions with high council notes, full time missionary applications with medical information, old custodian payroll records with names and social security numbers. As well as Stake and the local church recreation facility financial records.

The Stake Clerk did offer to come by the building and help me shred (we've inherited multiple shredders from a ward combining, another wards relocation, and the discontinued Stakes office shredder).

Sincerely,
Woe is me

MurdockM wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2025 1:18 pm He asked the FM group and they said we are not allowed to take stuff to a third party and must shred everything in house.

Hmmm. I'm not sure as FM has jurisdiction over that. Over the shredder you have, yes, but they are not in the Priesthood line of authority when it comes to these kinds of records. I'd be asking where is that written down.

MurdockM wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2025 1:18 pm The stake Presidents 1st counselor was at this building on Sunday. (he was primary age in my ward when I was away on my mission ) saw the huge pile and confirmed I could not take it out for shredding.
His words, "So, you better get shredding".

I'd be asking - where is that written? I'd take up the counselor on his offer. The tune might change after the first box. <g>

Personally, I'm leery of turning over records where I'd have to go by faith that they will handle them properly. There are shredding companies that will do it right in front of you. Usually mobile ones. Keep in mind that not shredding carries risks too. Anyone with a key to that room can browse the files.

MurdockM wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2025 1:18 pm old custodian payroll records with names and social security numbers. As well as Stake and local church recreation facility (Ensign Ranch) financial records.

Ok, that's going to be different. That's outside of what most units do and the retention rules (by law) could well be longer.

I did some searching in the Help Center. Retention of Records. Note the section "Confidential Records". Following the link on that page to File and Retain Expense Records, where I find:

For information about the use and retention of records and reports, clerks should refer to instructions from Church headquarters or the assigned administrative office.

I'd certainly call CHQ about the employment records as well as the recreational facility. The retention period for that could be closer to 10 years.

Just as I was closing some tabs from the research, I found the following:

2013.2 - General Records Retention and Disposition Schedule

And as a bonus: Church History Guides

Destroying documents in bulk, without industrial grade equipment, can definitely be a veryyyyyyy slowwwwww and tedious process.
Home/office shredders only handle a few sheets of paper at a time, easily jam, and overheat.
(One quickly gains appreciation for how fast that [unattended] multi-hour overwrite/wipe operation on a computer storage device really is, by comparison)

I'm not sure whether church policy permits record destruction to be outsourced. If it is permitted, I agree with @russellhltn that personally witnessing the document destruction (eg. shredding) is necessary vs. handing the box off to be shredded later. Stewardship of documents doesn't end until the documents are permanently destroyed.

Storing personal/confidential data (physically or digitally) carries responsibility and is increasingly becoming a landmine for organizations. Strictly follow the church's direction for data security and destruction.

For the future:
I imagine most physical documents in the church have moved to a digital format (managed by LCR?) If you still find yourself needing to store physical documents, I would recommend organizing them in the filing cabinent by year/month of their creation. Color code each folder/document label so you can see the document type just by thumbing through them. Regularly (each Fast Sunday?) check for documents that have expired per the church's current data destruction schedule and shred them on the spot.

It's nice to know we weren't the only ones who inherited decade+ old documents that needed attention

Our clerk was the only holdover when the rest of us newbies were called, and he was patient as we got settled with more pressing matters, and then finally prioritized data cleanup (in a smaller unit, it can be challenging just to keep your head above water, let alone make repairs to the ship). And it definitely took us a while. Almost as lengthy as the disposal, was the sheet-by-sheet review we decided to perform. There didn't end up being a lot of papers we retained, but we did find (sometimes randomly mixed into other groupings), a number of historical docs that we decided were worth keeping. A few we digitized and even made part of the unit history (building open house, building dedicatory prayer, etc), that nobody knew even existed. Other items like baptismal programs we gave to those members as keepsakes, and they were surprised and grateful for our efforts. And since I'm a bit of a history nerd, it was interesting to see some old church hq letters with different instructions, and consider how things have changed over the years...

It probably took us about a year to get fully through the shredding, and also the disposal of old manuals/booklets. We chose to simply ask the clerk to take a few minutes every time he was at church, and chip away in very small bites. Although daunting at first, when we just added a couple of minutes into each "church workday", it ended up not being overwhelming.

I should add, while I haven't found any evidence of a policy from Church Headquarters, it would be within a stake presidents or area authorities rights to make such a rule. But if I were being told that, I'd still like to know where the rule came from.