Cheshire Select Board Centralizes Public Records Requests Under Town Administrator's Office
CHESHIRE, Mass. — Amid an increase in public records requests, the Cheshire Select Board designated the town administrator's office as the town's records access officer to streamline the process.
Public records requests have become increasingly complex and time-consuming, with some involving litigation, requiring redactions, or qualifying for response extensions and fees, Town Administrator Jennifer Morse said during the board's meeting Tuesday
One recent records request would have taken three hours of the fire chief's time, Morse said, when the individual withdrew it after being informed of a $25 fee.
Morse said the current process can create confusion because Town Clerk Whitney Flynn will distribute the requests to everyone, making it difficult to track which requests have been responded to.
"I think that having a lot of people involved in the process makes it more difficult to have that accountability, and it's a liability if we're not on top of it. So, certainly, it is important to streamline it," Flynn added.
The board clarified that designating the town administrator's office as the records access officer would not change responsibility for maintaining town records, which will remain with the town clerk's office.
Under the new arrangement, the Town Administrator's office will serve as the central point for incoming requests, route them to the appropriate departments, and track responses, Morse said.
They plan to establish a dedicated public-records email address and a tracking spreadsheet, she said.
Morse said she also plans to update her public-records training and take a records-access class with the police officer and other town staff.
In other news:
The town has received a $57,600 grant through the Federal Funds and Infrastructure Office for the engineering of an ADA bathroom in the Community House.
Morse said she submitted the required paperwork to the state to begin drafting the contract, which she expects to receive by mid-January.
The Council on Aging received a $10,000 earmark from the state which can be used for several categories including outreach, programming, operating costs, building maintenance, and "pretty much anything that the council on aging does," Morse said.
The town is in the process of completing the contract for the funding, which the Council on Aging chair requested be allocated toward operating costs, she said.
A board member expressed concern that using the earmark for operating expenses could leave the town responsible for covering those costs in future years if the funding is not renewed to maintain the same level of services.
"According to the chair of the council on aging, the last time I spoke to her, they didn't have a plan for the funds yet," Morse said, explaining that is why the chair had requested the funding be listed under operating costs on the state's required spreadsheet.
"But we should certainly have them in to talk about what they plan on using those funds for," she said.
The board established a Community House Building Design Selection Committee and appointed the following members: Department of Public Works Director Corey McGrath, Finance Committee member Patrick Pettit, and Nick Murphy.
Tags: public records,
