Downtown Thomaston

The Town of Thomaston recognizes and supports the public’s right to inspect and make copies of public records in accordance with law and, to that end, it will make public records available for public inspection and copying on a reasonable basis subject to the policies established herein.
 

Municipal records fall into different categories, most of which are available to the public, and some of which may not be.  Ordinances, resolutions, the City Code, deeds, easements, permits, contracts, budgets, etc. are as a general rule, available to the public for inspection and copying.  Certain other records such as law enforcement, judicial records, sensitive personnel records, and records, the disclosure of which, would be detrimental to the best interest of the public.  Drafts of documents, information relating to taxes paid by a particular business, records not subject to disclosure or copying by law or by licensing agreement, may not be available for public inspection or copying.
 

In order to assure the efficient processing of a request to review and copy public records and documents of the Town, the Town Clerk is hereby requested to require all persons and/or organizations requesting access to any public records or documents to complete the form attached, Public Records Request Form, and to maintain a file of all requests.  Requests to inspect or copy public records may be delayed if the record is not described with specificity, research is necessary to locate the records or a review of the records is required to determine their status, or the records are so voluminous in size or nature that it requires additional time to identify and produce them. 

The Town reserves the right to refuse requests to produce or provide records or reports not already being produced in the normal course of business. Request for public records which are unduly burdensome, time-consuming, and those which are intended to harass the Town of Thomaston or any Town employee, shall be subject to limitation by the Town, time extensions, and/or denial of the documents.

To defer the costs incurred by the Town for providing copies of documents, the Town hereby adopts a copying charge of fifty cents ($.50) per page.  Time spent copying, researching or preparing documents for review or copying will be at a rate of fifteen dollars ($15.00) per hour with 1 hour minimum and applicant will be required to pay the set amount before the actual work or research is performed. The actual cost will be determined upon completion and adjustments to the payment will be made if necessary. Creation of documents or reports upon request is not the responsibility of the Town personnel.
 

Records may be reviewed on the 3rd Tuesday of each month between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Individuals seeking access to public records shall not be allowed to remove original documents from the books they are in or from the Town building in which they are housed.  Original documents shall remain under the custody of the Town Clerk while being reviewed.