What you could get from a public records request from within the office of the Board of Selectmen.

Hi Jeff:

Please fill out the attached form. This makes it easier for this office to keep track of all of the public records requests.

 Thank you.

Holly A. Young

I am unsure of why or how you would interpret “I am forwarding this to Holly in the selectman office.   Please note that all records requests need to be directed to the Selectman’s office.”

as a refusal of responding to your public records request. Per the M.G.L. and the Secretary of States office, “Anyone may request records directly from the records custodian”, which in the case of Templeton, is me, per my job description and designation by the Selectmen. I realize that the M.G.L. describes any person that has physical custody of the records as a Records Custodian. However, as ALL documents regardless of which office they are kept in, are the property of the Town of Templeton, the Selectmen’s Office is the preferred avenue for records requests to come through.

I am not sure, however, that you are aware that with the current M.G.L. still in place, “Such request may be delivered in hand to the office of the custodian or mailed via first class mail. A written request is not required but is recommended. An oral request made in person (not by telephone) is permitted.” I do not see anywhere in the law that states that requests received via email must be answered or that it is the correct manner to request records. Regardless, our offices have been very cooperative in getting the documents you have requested via email to you in a timely manner. However, I see no reason why you cannot cooperate with the Town and fill out a standard form and email that to me as the Records Custodian so I may respond to your request.

I will respond to your request within the legal time limit and you may consider my response as a response to the email you sent to the Town Accountant.  

the following is from the public records guide, available online to anyone.

The Request: There are no strict rules that govern the manner in which requests for public information should be made. Requests may be made in person or in writing. Written requests may be made by mail, facsimile or email.(10) A requester must provide the records custodian with a reasonable description of the desired information.(11) A records custodian is expected to use his or her superior knowledge of the records in his or her custody to assist the requester in obtaining the desired information.12

Attend the next meeting of the Advisory Committee and you may see who received a 15.85% raise recently (it could be someone in the office of the selectmen.

I also have copies of other public record requests by email that were provided to others (not me).

posted by Jeff Bennett

So much for the new transparency in Templeton, request a public record, a schedule A, that the Town Accountant is responsible for filling out and you get the check with the selectmen, or "I am forwarding to the selectmen and all public record requests must go through them" Fill out this form they say (personnel in BOS office) I decide what goes out, etc etc.
Below is what I got from the Secretary of the Commonwealth (Secretary of State)

Must my request be in writing and do I need to use a specific form?
 A written request is not required but is recommended. An oral request made in person (not by telephone) is permitted. To appeal the records custodian’s response to the Supervisor, however, a request must be in writing. There is no specific form that must be used to request records, nor is there any language that must be included in such a request. A records custodian may provide a form, but cannot demand that the form be used.

The schedule A form (a detailed statement of revenues and expenditures) is prepared by the Town Accountant who is responsible for this (normally) and the selectmen have nothing to do with it, as far as filling it in or keeping it, it belongs in the finance office and it is filed to the DOR by a predetermined due date. State aid payments may by law be withheld if this is not done. So the person who is responsible for filling this out and is the keeper of these items (custodian) but is not allowed to release them?  In my view, this is equal to refuse to provide them. I will see what the Secretary of State has to say about this and the filling out of a form. Again, so much for transparency here in Templeton. I am curious to see what an email to the DLS gets me.

As one saying goes, talk is cheap and good whiskey costs money.
As a quote attributed to Ronald Reagan states; "if you cannot make them see the light, make them feel the heat"

posted by Jeff Bennett

Requesting public records in a Town under twenty thousand residents: this may be of interest to you:

Sent By:	Brian Ferrarese (SEN)   On:Jul 07/19/16 12:14 PM
To:	jpb01468

Hi Jeff,

I apologize for not getting back to you on this.  The law reads that towns of less than 20,000 people may NOT charge for the first two hours.

A reasonable fee is defined as a rate equal to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill to perform the work and cannot exceed $25/hr.  Black and white copies are limited to 5 cents per page.  Under these new guidelines, a $650 charge from a city or town less than 20,000 people would have to be 1,000 pages ($50), and 26 hours of work at the maximum $25/hr rate (2 free hours plus 24 hours x $25). 

I hope that this information is helpful, and again I apologize for the delay in response.

Brian

posted by Jeff Bennett

It would seem this is email shows that selectmen not only knew of the changes made to budget spread sheet after they voted on it, they approved of them by not speaking on it at Town meeting. They did nothing, they sat there and let it happen.

Budget
Sent By:	Robert Markel   On:May 05/13/16 2:59 PM
To:	Mark Barrieau; Bev Bartolomeo; Katharine Fulton; Michael Greene; jpb01468; Gordon Moore; Wil Spring
Reply to:	Robert Markel
	2017 OPERATING ...d recomends.xlsx (2.2 MB) Download | Remove

I was about to print the FY'17 budget with Advisory Committee recommendations.  Decided to check all formulas and found that the TAB budget recommendation is $19K over.  

Recommend that you convene tomorrow and vote changes.  The Selectmen are going to vote the change that I implemented with regard to the Veterans Services budget, although they have already approved the changes.  

Bob
Robert T. Markel
Interim Town Administrator
Town of Templeton
160 Patriots Road
East Templeton, MA 01438
(978)894-2753


posted by Jeff Bennett