Killington board considers adoption of records policy due to Neisner requests

By Josh O’Gorman
STAFF WRITER | June 20,2013

Rutland Herald

KILLINGTON — The Select Board is considering the adoption of a public record policy after being inundated by a deluge of requests from a town official.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen a dramatic rise in public information requests. We’ve provided thousands of documents that have been requested,” said Town Manager Seth Webb during Tuesday night’s Select Board meeting. “Currently, we have a request that would cover 100,000 documents from the town.”

Many of these requests have come from Melvin Neisner Jr., an attorney in Killington and the town moderator as elected by the residents. Neisner declined to be interviewed for this story Wednesday, saying, “I don’t talk to the Rutland Herald.”

According to a June 13 memo from Webb to Neisner, Neisner has requested, among other documents:

All long-distance telephone bills for the Town Hall for the last three years;

Mileage and vehicle reimbursements for Webb;

Maintenance and insurance records for town vehicles;

All legal bills for the past four years;

All of these documents have been copied and have been available at the Town Office since early November.

While some record requests can be quickly filled, others — either due to their subject matter or simply the sheer size of the request — have proved more difficult.

Webb receives $50 a month from the town in reimbursement because he uses his personal cellphone for town business. Neisner requested Webb’s phone records, including his account numbers and “known personal calls related to family, friends, medical, health and personal legal expense,” records state.

Webb, who began working for the town in February of 2010, turned over the phone bills he had from October 2011 to February of this year, with personal calls and account numbers redacted. Neisner appealed the redaction, but the decision was upheld by the Select Board, which in a written decision stated “(i)nformation as to a person’s personal cellphone account numbers and records of calls made to family, friends, medical, health, and personal legal expense is not information produced or acquired in the course of agency (town) business, and accordingly, not a public record or document that must be produced under (public record law).”

According to the memo, Webb did not have his earlier phone records, but could get them from Verizon at a cost of $5 a month, if Neisner would care to pay the cost.

Neisner has also requested all texts and emails from Webb related to town business, a request that is estimated at more than 100,000 documents. Currently, state statute allows 208 reasons for a town to not make a document public, with reasons ranging from personnel issues to contract negotiations.

“To comply with this request, we would have to examine more than 100,000 documents to see which exemptions apply,” Webb said Wednesday.

At one minute an email, it would take one person — working 40 hours a week — 40 weeks to review the emails. Town officials estimate the total cost to comply with Neisner’s records request as between $36,000 and $45,000.

State statute allows a town to adopt and enforce rules to prevent the disruption of town business when responding to record requests, as well as requiring the person requesting the record to bear the cost, if the request exceeds 30 minutes of town staff time.

The Select Board took under consideration a model public record policy from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns that would create the above rules for the town.

The Board took no action, but expressed its support in adopting such rules.

Comment:
If there's nothing to hide, give him the records, they are public after all. In this town we've had a lot of stuff go on that did not see the light of day. To limit access to public records for any reason is to allow sub rosa dealings to go unnoticed and tacitly condone such actions via town policy.
Neisner may be a pain in the ass but he is within his rights AND he may be on to something that he is looking to document before stating anything publicly. I know I've heard rumors about some unsavory goings on at the Town office which if proved to be true would put egg on some people's faces.
Vito