When did it become an offense to ask town officials to do their job?
I think this problem stems from the fact that town officials are elected and therefore do not meet any professional standards for qualification other than being popular. In most case being popular isn??t even necessary because only one person runs in the election.
Take the Town Clerk as an example. Probably on the job for a year or so before being replaced by another political hack, this person will manage the more mundane aspects of the job like issuing dog licenses. When confronted with a request that requires actual effort will become confrontational and obstinate.
Records on the status and layout of town highways are the responsibility of the Town Clerk. So where are the records? The Town Clerk does not know. Perhaps the previous office holders did know something about their duties. The knowledge has become more and more lost with each passing year.
They put me on hold and patch my call to the Assessor. What does the Assessor have to do with any of this? I am told it must be a private road. Is there any document??ÿ I get the same answer. Is that your opinion? Record deeds in the area state the road is old and abandoned, not private. I get the same answer.
I may attempt once more to get a definitive answer from the town. Otherwise my map will state that the status of the road is undetermined and that records of the town are inaccessible.
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Once a highway always a highway, unless the contrary can be shown.?ÿ Sometimes you can get on their good side and they'll do wonders for you, sometimes not so much.?ÿ But I wouldn't expect a town clerk to know anything about roads in the town.?ÿ They could help find out about them though.?ÿ No telling who knows what, so I wouldn't complain about asking anyone including assessor.
I've run into this countless times here in central Maine. Your big mistake was trying to get this information over the phone. Municipal personnel will take you much more seriously if you're standing in front of them in flesh and blood and looking a bit like you're not leaving until you get some answers. They don't like looking anyone in the eyes and saying, in effect, "I don't have a clue." In person quite often they'll take some time to hunt down some answers or to find some fellow employee who has them. I've had them fetch the Town Manager who in some cases has gone into files in the back room that no one else knows about. He or she usually understands that your questions involve serious topics and that the Town should be able to answer them. I also find that old fashioned letters on paper sent by "snail mail" get more attention than phone calls (or email).
I also find that old fashioned letters on paper sent by "snail mail" get more attention than phone calls (or email).
After decades of frustration at the absence of online maps in my home county, despite conversations on the subject with three successive Clerk-Recorders, I finally asked Recorder's Office staff of I could get digital copies of all the filed maps, the same digital files they use to print (and sell at $11 a sheet) paper copies.?ÿ The initial response was "We don't do that."?ÿ When I then asked if I should pursue this under the provisions of the California Public Records Act, I was told that I needed to contact the Clerk-Recorder directly.
My first attempt was via email, in which I reminded him of our discussion several years back, and asked informally for digital copies of the maps, which I estimated would constitute about 10GB of data and could be copied with just a few commands.?ÿ That email got no response.
About a month later I sent a formal PRA request by postal mail.?ÿ Two months went by with no response.?ÿ?ÿ
Next I sent a follow up letter noting the lack of compliance with the law (which requires a written response within 10 days), but I cc'd County Counsel this time.?ÿ A few days later I got a nice letter from Counsel starting that the Clerk-Recorder would review the request and respond directly.?ÿ
About 10 days after that I got a letter from the Clerk-Recorder saying that they would comply with the request (though he included a vague statement along the lines of "this one time"), and that I would be hearing from a staffer regarding cost of the media, which they would supply for security reasons.
That was about 3 weeks ago, and I still don't have the maps.?ÿ I guess it's about time for another follow up letter, cc'ing Counsel again.
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If someone calls here I try to help them. As a new employee there are questions I can't answer. Sometimes a question is so obscure nobody can answer without research.
I patiently explain that to callers all the time. Most get it. Some never will...
You have identified a problem that comes from electing officials responsible for the routine operations of government. Who thinks an election for county surveyor makes sense?
In my experience, places that have career employees responsible for?ÿ day to day decisions are more likely to have higher functioning services, although I have of course seen the contrary also.
My biggest complaint about local officials is that they never answer their phone, and never return calls. Call the planning department, ask for so and so, and get transfered to their voice mail, leave a message and never hear back. Even the most mundane question is ignored unless you drive to their office and stand on their desk until you get a reply. Email is just as ineffective. If I ran my business they way they run the city, I'd be broke in a week.?ÿ
I have not experienced what you describe but I do not use the phone to try and get the kind of info you where seeking as I prefer to go stand in front of them. Not sure how I would handle obstinate public employees.?ÿ
I have not experienced what you describe but I do not use the phone to try and get the kind of info you where seeking as I prefer to go stand in front of them. Not sure how I would handle obstinate public employees.?ÿ
Just reading that and thinking; at ~5mb/map @$11, you just FOId roughly $22k in county revenue.
By federal copyright law them copying those records and supplying them to you appears to be 1 count of copyright infringement per record. Even if they are public record the information on them is public for you to see, however the plat/map appears to be covered by copyright law and illegal to reproduce.
I don't think so. Lots of counties issue DVDs with the maps on them or have them up on the public website for anyone to download.
My research into copyright in connection with the unauthorized reproduction of an ALTA survey some years ago led me to conclude that survey maps aren't, in general, covered because they present facts rather than original works. And a map deposited in the public record is certainly not subject to copyright, except as it concerns things like logos or other artistic features, and even those are subject to the fair use doctrine, i.e. they're incidental to the purpose of the copy.
Not only am i unconcerned about copyright violations regarding my receipt of the copies, I fully intend to make them available to others once I get them.
By federal copyright law them copying those records and supplying them to you appears to be 1 count of copyright infringement per record. Even if they are public record the information on them is public for you to see, however the plat/map appears to be covered by copyright law and illegal to reproduce.
I'm no lawyer but I suspect that most of the uses under discussion here would come under the "fair use" exception to the copyright laws.
The copyright infringement begins when someone that has purchased copy of recorded drawings or other public recordings and begins to advertise and/or starts selling copies of that copy to others whether it be a hard copy or digital copy or copy of in any form.
