Freedom of Information Commission does not require emails to be stored by Town Hall
With regard to Chairman Hall's request that all constituent contacts be filed with Town Hall, I spoke with the Freedom of Information Commission.
I explained the call to forward all constituent contacts to Town Hall and said I opposed this on principle. It's an invasion of privacy, IMHO.
Furthermore, I believe this would be an administrative nightmare when you consider that we have 20+ boards and commissions. And the memo's self-serving comment that "we receive few documents that do not come through Town staff" is beyond my comprehension. How could the writer* of this memo have any idea how often I am contacted by constituents? That makes absolutely no sense... unless we have the Oracle of Delphi on staff in Town Hall.
Regardless, the FOIC informed me that they have issued no directive for public officials to store all records with Town Hall. The FOIC simply wants records to be maintained. And it's perfectly acceptable for me to retain them.
Tim White
* Hall signed it, but he said he did not write it.
7 comments:
So if the state FOI agency does not require this turning over of constituent contacts into public record, why do Hall, Milone, and Johnson want to require it?
And if no other city or town is doing it, why only Cheshire?
to answer the last two questions: for harassment.
Hall may not have written that memo, but I wonder if Hall or Milone directed someone else to write it.
Nota Bene:
All information and communications originating within or outside the limits of Cheshire must be forwarded or reported to Cheshire's Central Information Control Dept for their review, approval and storage.
Except for individuals on the official Special Persons List, all residents must comply.
Anyone who does not comply or complains will be dealt with severely which might include advanced interrogation techniques which have been proven to be effective and which have been approved by our attorney.
The purpose of this new town service is to help keep you safe, improve transparency and to make it easier for town officials and our special supporters to deal with difficult people and situations.
You are very important to us, we look forward to your comments and to working closely with you.
Sincerely
Your friends at Cheshire KGB.
Tim: You missed the point again! The "self-serving" comment you refer to: right paragraph, wrong sentence. Check again. Otherwise, you are dead-on and thanks for staying in touch with our concerns. This stinks.
9:24... you're gonna have to spell it out for me. I'm missing your point.
All hail the communiqué of the glorious Chairman and Town Manager!
All hail the monitoring of messages by the six ruling Special Persons!
All hail the revolutionary struggle of the Democratic People's Party to overcome imperialist American civil rights!
(We have ways of making you comply, and a lawyer to back us up).
9:24: "This will protect us from accusations..." seems to be the only thing self-serving that I can see. Someone's looking out for their own rear. What a surprise-- in this town?! That never happens here!
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