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Public records. FOI. Freedom of Information. City Hall. city government.
By theszak on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 2:17pm
Public information of city government isn't available for people pursuing their civic interests. An example of an appeal...
ENSE PETIT PLACIDAM SVB LIBERTATE QVIETEM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_Massachusetts
The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts
William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth
Public Records Division
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcrmu/rmuidx.htm
Alan N. Cote
Supervisor of Records
pre at sec.state.ma.us
February 12, 2008
SPR08/026
Mr. Jeff Conley
Boston Finance Commission
152 North Street
Boston, MA 021113
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Finance_Commis...
Dear Mr. Conley:
I have received a petition appealing the response of
the Boston Finance Commission (Commission) to a public records request.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Finance_Commis...
G. L. c. 66, s 10b 2006 ed. (Supervisor of Public Records has the
authority to resolve public records appeals);
see also 950 C.M.R. 3208(2) (appeal process).
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcrmu/rmuidx.htm
Specifically requested are the Commission meeting minutes.
"Public records" is broadly defined to include all documentary
materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics,
made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the
Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption.
G. L. c. 4, s 7(26) (2006 ed.).
In a February 1, 2008 email, you informed Rebecca Murray, an
attorney on my staff, that the responsive minutes had not been
provided because they have yet to be approved.
Please be advised that all meeting records, whether existing in
the form of stenographic or longhand notes, or audio or video format,
are public records at the moment of their creation,
See G. L. c. 4, s 34, s 9G (2006 ed.);
G. L. c. 30A, s 11A 1/2 (2006 ed.)
(respectively providing that minutes of municipal, county, and state
executive sessions are not subject to immediate mandatory disclosure)
Additionally, there is no requirement that the minutes be
transcribed or approved before they are made public.
A records custodian is encouraged to clearly mark all such minutes
"unofficial" or "draft."
Given that meeting minutes become public upon creation, rather
than approval, you are hereby ordered to release the responsive
minutes in accordance with this determination.
Accordingly, I will consider this matter closed.
Very truly yours,
Alan N. Cote
Supervisor of Records
pre at sec.state.ma.us
One Ashburton Place, 17th Floor
Boston Massachusetts 02108
tel 617 727-2832
fax 617 727-5914
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcrmu/rmuidx.htm
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Comments
So another part of the
So another part of the government can't even get access to government records?
Are they related?... brothers?...
Are they related?... brothers?... District Attorney Conley?...
and Boston Finance Commission Conley
http://www.mass.gov/dasuffolk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Finance_Commis...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Boston_Finance_C...
Wait A Minute
Who exactly am I supposed to be mad at now?
Sunshine open public meetings principles. city government.
see also
http://www.google.com/search?q=kressel+devine+boston
Sentences, please
Don, please stop with the links and the seemingly random phrases; you need to provide some intelligible text explaining what you're linking to and why.
Yes, Don, we know you can explain things
I *think* what you're saying with your crypto-links is that the Boston Finance Commission is refusing to release PUBLIC documents to the state, in violation of the state open meeting law. It's an interesting story, but throwing what look like a bunch of random links against the virtual law here turns off people who don't have the time or lack of headache to try to figure out what your point is.
Violation of public records law, not open meeting law
Actually, reading the letter the zak put above, I think what happened is that he (?) submitted a request for public documents (meeting miniutes) to the Boston Finance Commission under the state's Public Records Law, and that the BFC refused his request by saying that the minutes were not yet approved.
The zak then sent a letter to the Supervisor of Public Records (in Secretary of the Commonwealth's office) appealing the BFC's refusal.
Someone in the Supervisor of Public Records office then sent a letter (the one the zak pasted above) to the BFC telling the BFC that they are required to release those meeting minutes at any time after they are first written down -- even though they are only in draft form -- and suggesting that they put the label "DRAFT" on the minutes when providing them to the zak.
The BFC's mistake in thinking that meeting minutes are not public documents until they are "approved" (in the next meeting) is a very common one amongst state and municipal governments. I have encountered the same mistake many times, and have had to explain the law to them (drawing to their attention the document at the Supervisor's website explaining the Public Records Law).
The Open Meeting Law states that state, county, and municipal agencies and boards have to hold open meetings and take minutes of them. The Public Records Law then governs how the public can request copies of those minutes, and how the agencies and boards provide them to the public.
A horse of a different color
And had "the zak" told us all that, I suspect some folks here also might have found it troubling and deserving of attention. Thanks, Michael.
You are correct, sir
And I, once again, have proven that, despite 12 years of writing about the two laws back in the day (although not on a daily basis) still get them mixed up. Not quite as bad as my writing about the Museum of Our National Heritage in Lexington (which I once referred to as the Museum of Our Natural Heritage), but still ...
And, as cynical probably would say, maybe the Zak needs to hire you as his own personal copy desk.
Someone please send The Zak to a middle school English class
...and teach him/her how to properly make HTML links.
Really. The post looks like good information to bring to light. I'm sure there's a nice story involved- but jeeeeez it's hard to understand.
Or maybe he/she thinks the subject field is for keywords, or that putting keywords into the subject field is more likely to make the posts come up in Google...
I think he's one of those
I think he's one of those crazy's who always find their way to the mayors office and ramble on about incoherent psychotic crap. Cambridge has a problem with them I hear.
Just this one found out how to use a library computer.