Petition to establish an automatic open records committee

Update: This is an update of the original petition wording. The petition has far less unnecessary words. There has been discussion that my milestone dates were too aggressive for a government body. I have thus replaced the end date with a preliminary findings date early in the new year.

The following is the first second draft of a petition to establish a committee to bring about automatic open records to South Kingstown. Please review and send changes to andrew@andrewgilmartin.com

This petition requests the Town Council of South Kingstown to assemble a Committee to review and make recommendations regarding the normative use of online (internet) tools by municipal departments, their staff and their contractors, for the purpose of disclosing records and supporting materials (including, but not limited to, documents, drawings, diagrams, blueprints, models, audio recordings, video recordings, and maps) automatically and immediately online, without cost, for public use. The Committee's recommendations will identify activities of governance and administration, as well as the records associated with them.

The Committee's recommendations must conform to Rhode Island's Access to Public Records Act (APRA).

The Committee will establish requirements and practical guidance based on, but not limited to, reviewing existing departmental processes and tools and reviewing best practices by other organizations both public and private.

The Committee may be composed of members coming from, but not limited to, the public, municipal government, municipal boards, and school administration. The Committee will have no less than 5 members and no more than 7.

The Committee will be formed no later than June 1, 2009 and it will report its preliminary findings no later than February 1, 2009. There will be a joint public meeting between the Town Council and the Committee to present the Committee's preliminary findings soon thereafter.

The Town Council will allocate $1000 to the Committee for the purposes of holding meetings, gathering information, and other normal administrative activities associated with a committee such as, but not limited to, advertising, record keeping, photocopying, travel expense reimbursements, and speaker renumeration.

END

Revision 2 | 27 March 2009.