Below is a list of documents we are making available to the public pertaining to the April 14, 2008 Request for Public Records made by Concord resident Richard Stevenson, which is still -- a year later -- under appeal with the State. We provide these so that the reader can gather the necessary facts to understand what has transpired.

We promise much of it will be fascinating -- and surprising -- reading.

The first group below is the correspondence that shows first what documents Stevenson asked for, and what the Town of Concord replied in response, including the $122,492.00 price tag they put on just seeing copies of the requested records.

Stevenson then appealed the Town's response to the State Supervisor of Records (part of the Secretary of State of the Commonwealth of Massachsuetts' office). Next you will see the findings the Supervisor made and the subsequent orders he gave to the Town of Concord, disagreeing with the Town's estimate across numerous specific points, approving of only a $95.00 charge in that estimate, sending the rest back to be recalcuated.

The last pieces of correspondence are the Town's reply to the State.  Here the Town itemizes the ways in which it does not plan to follow the Supervisor's orders. The very last piece  provides attachments which were not included in the Town's response to the Supervisor of Records, including the revised price of $41,918.00 to just look at the records.

The second group of documents below is background information to provide a context and factual basis for the contents of the correspondence. It's a lot of reading, but it is all actually quite straight-forward and understandable. The documents from the State (the first two) give guidance about the law and proper record-keeping practices. The third document is from the Town, and it gives an idea of salaries/wages of Town employees -- information pivotal to the determination of their estimates for producing the records. The Boston Globe opinions discuss what that paper considers to be a horrendous record of abuse of the law by State and Municipal officials, which gives further context for the Town of Concord's position and actions.

Do be aware that the way the State law is set up, the Supervisor of Records is given the authority to issue orders to State and Municipal officials, but possesses absolutely no enforcement powers to have those orders fulfilled. Enforcement is left to the Attorney General, the District Attorney, and Superior Court. The requester of the documents has to also request and pursue enforcement from one of these entities, which makes the Supervisor's orders child's play to defy.

For those who are unable to manage everything below, we have put a * next to the items that we feel will really educate the reader the most easily and directly.  

Correspondence
*Stevenson's Original Request to Town of Concord for Public Records 4/14/08
*Town's Response to Stevenson's Request for Records 5/13/08
State Opens an Appeal to Town's Response 5/19/08
*State Sends Orders to Town of Concord 11/7/08
*Town of Concord Response to State's Orders 11/21/08
*Missing Attachments from 11/21/08 Town Response sent 1/28/09

Background Materials
Guide to Public Record Law (including the State Statute)

Records Management Electronic Records E-Discovery by State Supervisor of Records, Alan Cote, 2007

Town Employee Compensation by Class (Warrant Article, Town Meeting 2008)
*"Public Records Should be Public" (Boston Globe Opinion 10/22/08)
*"Less-Than-Public Records" (main Boston Globe Editorial for Sunday, 2/8/09)

(* = recommended reading)