(1) The governing authority of a municipality shall have the power and authority, in its discretion, to destroy or dispose of any records, documents, files or papers which are required by law to be preserved and retained, or which are necessary or desirable to be preserved or retained, after having reproductions made thereof under standards established by the Department of Archives and History and in accordance with a records control schedule approved by the Local Government Records Committee as provided in Section 25-60-1.

(2) Any reproductions or copy of any original record or other documents shall be deemed to be the original record for all purposes and shall be admissible as evidence in all courts or administrative agencies. A facsimile, exemplification or certified copy thereof shall, for all purposes set forth herein, be deemed to be a transcript, exemplification or certified copy of the original record.

(3) The governing authority of any municipality is hereby authorized to pay all expenses incurred in reproducing such records or other documents and in making provision for the preservation, retention and storage of such reproductions from the general support fund of such municipality.

(4) When any of the records or documents of which reproductions are made under the provisions of this section, are declared by law, or are by their nature, confidential and privileged records, then the reproduction thereof shall likewise be deemed to be confidential and privileged to the same extent as the original records or documents.

(5) Nothing herein shall be construed to require the keeping and preservation of any records and documents which are not required by law to be kept and preserved, or which it is not desirable or necessary to keep and preserve, and such records and documents may be destroyed or disposed of in accordance with a records control schedule approved by the Local Government Records Committee as provided in Section 25-60-1.