Welcome
to your second session on How
to File a Public
Records Request. Sometimes
people have questions about how to file a request for Public Records. Maybe as
a taxpayer, they are curious about how much money a town spends on legal costs.
Maybe as a taxpayer, someone would like to review all the invoices for vehicle
repair at the DPW or highway department for a certain period of time. A citizen
may just be interested to know how much money a town collected from the redemption
of scrap metal.
THIS
TEMPLATE should get you started. Not
all documents are public records, but you would be amazed at what is a public
record. Sometimes the records obtained under a public records request are
redacted. Redacted means that certain parts of the document will be blacked
out, because that particular part of the document is “confidential”. You also
need to figure out which department is the keeper of the records you seek –
usually a town accountant or a treasurer or even a town manager.
Also, be prepared to pay for some of the documents. E-mail messages cost more per page.
Let
your imagination go wild. Extra credit is available for multiple public record
requests. This concludes our lesson for today. Remember:
Practice! Practice! Practice!
As
always click on the blue links….
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