WORCESTER—A debate over how easily residents can access public records surfaced at Tuesday night’s city council meeting, as Councilor Gary Rosen pressed the city to post more background materials for public meetings online.
Through an order, Rosen asked that background information for items appearing on city council and committee agendas be made available electronically, arguing that greater transparency could reduce the need for formal public records requests.
Rosen said residents have raised concerns with him for years about the difficulty of obtaining public documents and understanding what is discussed in meetings. While some council subcommittees routinely post materials online, others do not, he said.
“Public records means that people are entitled to them,” Rosen said. “I’m talking about the records that people ask for, that they might want, to get them involved in our city government and our city life. Sometimes we hold back … and I just don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t think the city has anything to hide.”
Rosen acknowledged that fees are sometimes assessed to cover staff time in preparing records, but said requests can take weeks or months to fulfill — and sometimes appear to go unanswered.
“I can’t understand why a public record can’t be public — it can’t be made available to those who request it,” he said. “If we made them available, we wouldn’t have people always requesting it, people could just go online. I just don’t know why we make people go through all these hoops all the time to get what they deserve.”
He added that requests often back up after council and other civic meetings.
“We have nothing to hide here in the City of Worcester,” Rosen said. “It’s wrong to say public records … maybe you’re not entitled to them. That’s the wrong attitude.”
Council Vice Chairman Khrystian King asked whether meeting minutes are posted online. While they are in some cases, not all committees consistently do so. King introduced a second order aimed at ensuring that meeting minutes are regularly published.
“It’s very important that that work is transparent,” King said. “It’s in the public interest. I think it will be helpful for civic engagement and for folks understanding this form of government.”
Councilor Morris Bergman cautioned that some materials reviewed by subcommittees originate from other departments or outside organizations and may not fall under open meeting law requirements. He also argued that a small number of individuals deliberately file large volumes of requests.
“There are a few people requesting large numbers of public records who go on social media and tell other people ‘let’s bombard the law department with public meeting requests so we can make them go out of their minds trying to comply,’ ” Bergman said.
Bergman proposed what he described as a friendly amendment, asking the city’s law department to analyze why residents are submitting records requests. Rosen declined to accept the amendment.
“I don’t accept Councilor Bergman’s amendment,” he said. “It’s not a friendly amendment. There might be a flood of requests because the information isn’t available online. … If we give the people the records, there will not be this flood of requests, by friends and foes alike, as Councilor Bergman mentions. Let’s do it right from the beginning, and then maybe we can eliminate that problem. Why do we make up excuses as to why we can’t do that?”
City Manager Eric Batista pushed back on what he described as a perception that the city is overwhelmed with records requests related to boards and commissions.
“It seems like there is this narrative that we’re withholding information on this number of requests coming in for boards and commissions,” Batista said. “That is not true and it’s not correct.”
King also rejected Bergman’s amendment and said the focus should remain on process rather than the motives of those requesting records.
“The best course of action can not include personalizing public and civic rights to governmental affairs,” King said. “Despite who asks, we can’t get into how there’s been too many requests for one particular issue or another. What we do have to focus on is process, and making sure we are informing the public.”
The council ultimately voted to send Rosen’s order to the city manager for a report on the number of requests received for meeting information. The body also directed the Worcester Regional Transit Authority to post its meeting agendas and minutes online.
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