Pennsylvania § 12305 - Location of offices, records and papers.

§ 12305. Location of offices, records and papers.

(a) County seat.--Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d), each county commissioner, auditor, controller, treasurer, sheriff, recorder of deeds, prothonotary, clerk of courts, clerk of orphans' court, register of wills and district attorney shall keep the individual's respective offices and each public record and paper of the office at the county seat and in buildings erected or appropriated for keeping offices and public records and papers.

(b) Storage.--

(1) The county commissioners may keep and maintain records and contract with persons for storage, retrieval and transmission of county records within or outside the county except that no records shall be stored outside the county seat without the approval of the officer in charge of the office to which the records belong. The approval of the president judge shall be required if records are in the custody of agencies of the court of common pleas, the clerk of courts, the prothonotary, the register of wills or the clerk of the orphans' court. Public records stored outside of the county seat shall be made accessible to the general public at the county seat by an electronic means or facility which will permit the retrieval of the records or exact copies of the records within five business days.

(2) County records used on a regular or frequent basis shall be accessible in the county seat.

(c) Fee.--The county commissioners of counties of the second class A may impose a fee on recorded instruments required to be kept permanently that are filed with the county and, with the approval of the president judge, may impose a fee on civil or criminal cases filed in the court of common pleas. Fees shall be collected by the appropriate row officer and deposited into a special records management fund, administered by the county's records management program in the Office of Management and Productivity or, in the absence of an Office of Management and Productivity, an office that handles the same or similar functions. The fund shall be solely used to help defray the cost of maintaining, administering, preserving and caring for the records of the county.

(d) Office.--The county commissioners shall, after consultation with an officer, furnish each officer with an office and additional space in the county building, courthouse or other building at the county seat sufficient to perform the duties of the office. The following shall apply:

(1) The commissioners may, with the approval of the respective officers, furnish an additional office or space in buildings at locations outside of the county seat for the auditors, commissioners, controller, treasurer or recorder of deeds.

(2) The commissioners may, with the approval of the respective officers and the president judge, furnish an additional office or space in buildings at locations outside of the county seat for the sheriff, prothonotary, clerk of courts, clerk of orphan's court, register of wills or district attorney.

(e) Maintenance.--An officer failing or refusing to maintain the office and to keep each public record and paper of the office in the buildings appropriated under this section commits a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to:

(1) imprisonment until the officer complies with this section or until sooner discharged by order of the court; and

(2) pay a fine of not more than $500 for the use of the county.

Special Provisions in Appendix. See section 6(3) of Act 14 of 2024 in the appendix to this title for special provisions relating to continuation of prior law.