LIVERMORE — Town officials voted Tuesday night to continue using paper copies instead of setting up separate email accounts for each selectperson at the Town Office.
Administrative Assistant Amy Byron said it had been suggested the town set up a free email account for each selectperson.
Selectpersons expressed concerns about using personal cellphones or computers to conduct town business. As public servants, they said, those devices could be open to scrutiny under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act, should they contain town information.
Byron asked the Legal Services Department of the Maine Municipal Association for clarification on the issue. She shared an email she received on the matter.
The email states that Maine’s FOAA does not prohibit the use of personal devices or personal accounts for electronic communications involving government business. However, these communications are still considered to be public record, subject to record retention requirements and public inspection and copying. Some government entities require that all electronic communications involving government business be on governmental servers to make compliance more manageable.
The email also states that Brenda Kielty, assistant attorney general and Maine’s public access ombudsman, clearly endorses the use of governmental servers for governmental communications.
“Access to email is obviously hindered by the use of personal email accounts for public business,” Kielty said in an article she wrote on email and public records for the May 2016 issue of MMA’s monthly magazine, Maine Townsman. “Requiring public email, regardless of origin, to be maintained on the municipal server protects against the loss or destruction of these records.”
Another suggestion was to purchase tablets for each member of the board, but it was determined that there is no money in the budget to purchase or maintain such equipment.
Selectperson Wayne Timberlake said there would be no advantage to coming to the Town Office to look at emails.
Chairman Mark Chretien said he would rather stay off email and only use paper copies.
The board agreed to continue using paper copies.
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