With Middleboro's April Town Election fast approaching, it should be noted that when I raised issues of concern about the PUBLIC RECORDS requests that had been submitted, Stephen Spataro said "WE SHOULD STICK TO OUR POLICY."
.
There is no OUR POLICY.
.
The Town has NO policy.
.
The Policy that Town of Middleboro follows is the state's Public Records Law.
.
Stephen Spataro has been on the Middleboro Board of Selectmen for how many years and never figured out that there is no policy or Town By Law governing Public Records? Does that mean he has never read the Town By Laws? BTW, where are they posted? On the PTWS (Pathetic Town Web Site)?
.
If you find the By Laws, Town Vehicle Use Policy, the Zoning Regulations, Planning Board Regulations, WRPD please post a comment immediately because I haven't found them yet.
.At tonight's Middleboro Selectmen's Meeting, Bob Dunphy rose to question when Executive Meeting Minutes would be posted.
.For those who believe this is a trivial matter, PUBLIC RECORDS are an important part of a Selectmen's duties.
.The link to the guide from the Secretary of State's Office is below, as well as the information about Executive Meeting Minutes.
.
Other Towns conform to state law. Why not Middleboro?
.Public Records Guide
In the interest of open government, all records custodians are strongly urged to waive the fees associated with access to public records, but are not required to do so under the law.
Public records that are of great interest to a large number of people must be readily available within the office of the records custodian and should be provided at a minimum cost, if any. These records include minutes of local board meetings, town meeting documents, warrants, street lists, municipal financial documents, etc.
When must minutes of an open meeting be made available to the public?
Minutes of executive session meetings must be reviewed and released regularly and promptly. Executive session minutes must be released to the public as soon as the stated purpose for the executive session protection has ceased.
The Massachusetts General Laws broadly define "public records" to include "all books, papers, maps, photographs, recorded tapes, financial statements, statistical tabulations, or other documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee" of any Massachusetts governmental entity.
6 comments:
Hooray for Bob Dunphy for reminding them.
The more we watch the more disgusted we become. Information isn't posted. The PTWS is ...well pathetic.
And the Board isn't changing.
I'm not sure if I should feel sorry for Christello or not.
I won't vote for them but I didn't vote for them before. How do we get rid of this board?
The people get the govenment they deserve.
A simple majority of the voters voted these people into office to serve them/the town/us. Obviously, they're the cream of the crop.
What do you think you're going to do about it?
You want change? Let me check my pockets.
Smoking Owl said it best. Nice lady. In over her head. Landscape the town hall? Deficit anyone? Mimi, please do us a favor and move on. 2 more years?
Business must be bad to see Linc Andrews front and center each week.
I'm beginning to understand what the complaints are after reading the meeting minutes.
Preposterous is the word that comes to mind.
We pay that secretary how much? At least she uses spell check finally.
Post a Comment