Free Workshop on Investigative Reporting and FOI

Great news! In addition to my work with the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government and Common Cause Massachusetts, I serve on the New England First Amendment Coalition board as a representative of Common Cause Massachusetts. The Coalition was formed in 2006 by a group of journalists who were concerned that reporters and citizens were being routinely denied access to government information. They saw a need for a region-wide, single organization whose purpose would be to advocate for access to such information.

On Friday, May 1st, from 9 a.m. to 3:30, the Coalition, in partnership with the New England First Amendment Center at Northeastern and the Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc., will host a free conference at the Boston Globe on investigative reporting and FOI issues. The "keynote" speaker at the event will be Lucy Dalglish, Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. It promises to be a very valuable and interesting conference for anyone who is interested in open government issues.

The following is an excerpt from the description of the planned program for the day. If you have a passion for open government issues and you would like to attend, you can register at the New England First Amendment Center's website.

The workshop is for professional and civic journalists and for those who work in related areas, such as nonprofit employees who monitor government action. It will kick off with a session that examines how strong newsrooms are built around a lasting awareness of FOI issues and how access to public records serves as a driving force behind top-quality reporting. Next, learn about the public records gold mine that exists in your town or city hall, and how to identify, request and use this valuable information to do enterprise and investigative reporting. After lunch, Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, will talk about the role of the press in keeping government open, and the threat posed by erosion of local media. Also in the afternoon, find out about two dozen open-records Web sites that are of value to any newsroom or organization that wants to keep tabs on government, and how to search the Web more effectively.

Sunshine Week 2009

The following are just a few of the stories that appeared online during Sunshine Week 2009 (March 22 - 28). For more stories about the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government’s recognition awards ceremony that took place at the State House during Sunshine Week, please go to the Common Cause Massachusetts news feed page.

Lines Drawn In Battle To Open Workings Of Government

March 15, 2009, The Republican, Jack Flynn

Second of a two part series about government reform. This part focuses on proposed changes to the open meeting and public records law pending in the legislature. The first part, “Winds of reform could chill Statehouse scandals”, by Dan Ring, focuses on ethics reform.

Open Government According To The Founding Fathers?

March 16, 2009, The Concord Magazine blog, Rich Stevenson

This is a reprint of a piece about the author’s problems with obtaining public records under the open meeting. He made his request in April, 2008, and his appeal to the State was still pending as of March 2009. Who says there are no problems with the current Public Records Law?

Newton To Be Honored For Web Accessibility

March 16, 2009, The Daily News Tribune

Article about the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government’s recognition of almost 120 cities and towns for posting key public records online.

Virtual Town Hall Lauded For Openness

March 17, 2009, The Milford Daily News, Joyce Kelly

Franklin receives recognition for website from Common Cause Massachusetts for third year in a row.

OUR VIEW: Let The Light In

March 17, 2009, South Coast Today, Editorial

Piece about the importance of the local newspaper in obtaining access to local government information.

Electronic Records Upset The Boat Of Public Access

March 17, 2009, The Concord Magazine Blog

Calls for updating policies and procedures to address electronic record retention issues.

Sunshine Week: Local Towns Fare Well On Superintendent E-mail Requests

March 19, 2009, The Milford Daily News, John Hilliard

“As part of Sunshine Week, the Daily News requested copies of e-mails sent between 13 area school superintendents and the heads of their respective school committees during March 2008.” Results are contained in the article.

Town of Easton Honored For Government Openness On Its Website

March 19, 2009, The Enterprise

Easton received recognition from the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government, Common Cause Massachusetts for its use of its website. Article also mentions other towns that failed to receive recognition.

Counsel Offers Opinion In Flap Over Westport Superintendent's Contract

March 19, 2009, The New Bedford Standard Times (reprinted in the AARP Bulletin Today)

Local counsel says no violation of open meeting law occurred in how the school committee handled the retiring school superintendent’s contract.

Town Web Site Really Clicks

March 19, 2009, The Westford Eagle, Stephen Vittorioso

Article about how the town of Westford uses its website to provide information to its citizens.

Nonprofit Honors Boxborough Website, But Not Acton's

March 23, 2009, The Beacon

Another article about the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government, Common Cause Massachusetts annual recognition awards to local websites for posting key public records online.

What's New In Open Government...

A continuing series linking to reports and stories on the web about open government issues around Massachusetts. The following are stories about open government issues that appeared during the last week in February and the first week in March, 2009:

Hunter tells state board broke law

Feb. 21, 2009, Worcester Telegram and Gazette, Donna Boynton

“A local hunter is asking the state attorney general and Ethics Commission to investigate whether the Conservation Commission violated the Open Meeting Law by communicating through e-mail…”

Board's E-mails Violated Open Meeting Law

Feb. 27, 2009, Media Law blog, Robert Ambrogi

Essex County DA rules Boxford Board of Health violated Open Meeting Law with use of email. Robert links to the Salem News story and the Wicked Local story.

How does one go about getting public information from our town officials?

March 3, 2009, Sudbury Watch blog, Sabo

Provides an example of a public records request letter.

Federal funds point the way

March 6, 2009, Jamaica Plains Gazette, David Taber

A story about the Jackson Square Citizens Advisory Committee excluding the press from some of its meetings. Apparently a few chosen citizens think only they should be privy to information that could affect a number of citizens. How can that be right?

Official Questions Closed Door Meeting

March 8, 2009, Media Law blog, Robert Ambrogia

Another great posting by Robert Ambrogia about a possible open meeting law violation, this time in Auburn. The story referenced was in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

Common Cause to Honor 117 Municipalities on Thursday [that's today] at the State House as Part of Sunshine Week Celebration

This just in from Common Cause Massachusetts:

BOSTON – Tomorrow [TODAY-March 19, 2009] at 1:00pm in the Nurses’ Hall at the State House Common Cause will honor 117 municipalities that have posted at least six important local governance documents on their websites. Representatives from each community will be presented with the 2009 e-Government Award. The event occurs during Sunshine Week, a national initiative by the American Society of Newspaper Editors created to raise awareness about the importance of open government and freedom of information.

The event is part of Common Cause’s on-going Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government, which periodically reviews the Internet presence of all 351 cities and towns in the state. The current audit of all municipal websites in the Commonwealth will be released at the event. The first assessment in early 2006 found that only 24 municipalities – or about 7 percent – have all six key records posted online. The six documents included in the review are the municipality's governing body’s agenda, the governing body’s minutes, budget information, the municipality’s bylaws, code or ordinances, and if applicable, the town meeting warrant and results.

The list of towns to be honored include: Amesbury, Amherst, Andover, Arlington, Ashburnham, Ashland, Barnstable, Becket, Bedford, Bellingham, Belmont, Bolton, Boston, Boxborough, Brookline, Burlington, Cambridge, Carver, Charlton, Chatham, Chelmsford, Chelsea, Chilmark, Concord, Dalton, Dedham, Dennis, Dudley, Dunstable, Duxbury, East Longmeadow, Eastham, Easton, Egremont, Everett, Falmouth, Fitchburg, Freetown, Gardner, Gill, Gloucester, Haverhill, Holden, Holland, Holliston, Holyoke, Hopkinton, Hudson, Ipswich, Kingston, Lakeville, Leominster, Littleton, Longmeadow, Lowell, Malden, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Marlborough, Mashpee, Maynard, Melrose, Methuen, Millbury, Milton, Monterey, Nantucket, Needham, Newburyport, Newton, Norfolk, North Andover, North Reading, Northampton, Northborough, Northbridge, Orange, Orleans, Otis*, Paxton, Pembroke, Pepperell, Provincetown, Reading, Rockland, Rockport, Salem, Salisbury, Sandwich, Saugus, Scituate, Sharon, Sheffield, Somerville, South Hadley, Southwick, Springfield, Sterling, Sturbridge, Sudbury, Sutton, Tewksbury, Topsfield, Upton, West Boylston, West Springfield, Westford, Westminster, Weston, Westwood, Weymouth, Wilbraham, Williamstown, Winchester, Winthrop, Woburn, Worcester, and Wrentham.

“It’s time to bring local government into the 21st century,” said Common Cause Massachusetts’ Executive Director Pam Wilmot. “The Internet makes it easy and cost effective to facilitate public access and citizen engagement by, at a minimum, posting these six key records. More and more people rely on the Internet for critical information each day. Communities that provide this information are providing an important service to their citizens.”

What: 2009 e-Government Award Ceremony
Date: Thursday, March 19, 2009
Time: 1:00pm
Place: Nurses’ Hall, State House, Boston


ABOUT COMMON CAUSE:

Common Cause Massachusetts is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, government watchdog, dedicated to citizen participation in an open, honest, and accountable government. An independent, member-supported organization, Common Cause has more than 200,000 members nationwide and 10,000 in Massachusetts.

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Andover, Methuen, and Orleans All Have Video On Demand.

I have discovered three more Massachusetts communities that post videos of public meetings online. The city of Methuen provides live webcasts and on-demand broadcasts of various local government meetings, including city council meetings, school committee meetings, zoning board of appeals meetings, and community development committee meetings. The town of Orleans has videos of the meetings of at least ten different town committees and boards available for downloading on its website. Many of the videos date back as far back as July 2008. Finally, the town of Andover's community access channel provides live webcasts of local government meetings and video downloads of the meetings of at least five local government boards and committees, as well as League of Women Voters meetings. The videos date back to about a year ago.

Unfortunately, none of the on demand videos of all three of these communities allow the viewer to jump ahead to a particular spot on the agenda for the meeting, although the Orleans videos allow the viewer to skip around on the video to different spots. In any event, the citizens of Methuen, Andover, and Orleans now have greater access to information about local government meetings.

Another Video On Demand Community

The town of Dennis, Massachusetts, is another community that is posting downloadable videos of meetings of some of its boards and committees on its website. The boards and committees include the Board of Selectmen, the Finance Committee, the Board of Health, and the Conservation Commission. Dennis has about 14,000 residents. Thank you to Steve Buss, the IT Director in Dennis for letting me know about this feature. And good for Dennis, Massachusetts.

What's New In Municipal Websites... Northampton, Ma.

As Common Cause Massachusetts finishes up on its third annual review of city and town websites, we have been noticing and hearing about some interesting things some municipalities are doing to promote civic engagement and to provide greater access to local government information. For example, the Mayor of Northampton, MA, Mayor Clare Higgins, has posted her budget presentation to the City Council Finance Committee on line. The presentation describes a $6 million deficit the city faces for the next fiscal year. It also asks residents to provide suggestions for budget savings. As the Mayor’s office receives suggestions from the public, they post them on the website on pages labeled “The City Speaks” and “More Citizen Ideas.”

As an aide to the Mayor described it to Common Cause Massachusetts, “We are very proud of this feature, and extremely pleased with the positive, interactive response we are getting from the public... It’s been a terrific way to share information and answer questions that are on the minds of lots of taxpayers in these challenging days.”

Maybe this is something other municipalities will want to consider as their budget process moves forward.

Video on Demand

The Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government currently is doing its annual review of municipal websites. I have been helping out and have noticed that more and more communities have video on demand features either on their websites or on the website of the local community television station. In previous posts I have talked about Franklin’s and Barnstable’s video on demand features. Here are a few more communities that provide this service to the public:

Boston
(Okay, so the Boston City Council has gotten into some trouble in the past with the Open Meeting Law… but still ahead of the majority of communities with this feature.)

Chatham
(Has videos meetings posted from the past two years.)

Easthampton

Fitchburg
(Fitchburg Access TV posts online video of a lot of events around the city.)

Framingham

Haverhill
(Last two meeting of City Council on community television.)

Newton
(Okay, Newton has audio of Alderman meetings, not videos…. but it’s a start.)

Video on demand is a very cool feature, especially in these busy times, that allows citizens to watch public meetings at whatever time is convenient to them, without them having to remember to set the video, dvd recorder, or TiVo. It is another example of how the latest technology that can make access to local government information easier. Hopefully, more communities will embrace it.