At Rethink Local, we believe that public records access is an important part of broader policies, programs, and cultures that build trust through accessible and transparent governance.
But in 2026, navigating this space can be challenging, especially for smaller towns.
That is why we have produced a set of best practices/working documents freely available to Town and City Managers and Administrators signed up on the free New England Municipal Manager’s email group. These documents include:
- A detailed policy, timeline, workflow document for staff that lay out the process (for Vermont specifically)
- A spreadsheet to log requests, responses, costs, and other information
- A certification form for officials who use non-town owned email accounts.
To access these documents, just request to signup on the NEMM Google Group and that’s it!
Rethink Local has also advocated for broader policy and program changes such as:
- Legislation that would allow towns and cities to bill companies for the actual costs of responding to records requests as part of business services they provide so that local taxpayers don’t have to foot the bill for commercial research and data collection
- The creation of an ombudsperson at the state level to a) provide specific guidance to municipalities navigating complex requests and b) provide a streamlined appeal process that doesn’t require members of the public engage the court system
- The State government in Vermont or New Hampshire providing a state-wide contract for RMS (Records Management Systems) that would, at a lower cost, enable smaller towns to get professional records management in place, and cut down on the need for records request
- And much more!
Check out the RETHINK LOCAL podcast with more information about this topic!