What Is Holding Up Right-to-Know Requests in Nottingham?

This is the first of at least three articles about information recently released by the town of Nottingham in response to right-to-know requests. Many of the emails made public in the recent release were about how long it was taking the town to fulfill the requests and about the method by which the requested information should be provided to the requester. According to reporting by Annmarie Timmins in the New Hampshire Bulletin, these issues in Nottingham are part of a state-wide controversy. 

Access to those kinds of records is getting harder under new local right-to-know policies and guidance the New Hampshire Municipal Association is giving local officials. 

Based on the association’s advice, municipalities that once provided records by email are requiring people to collect documents in person during business hours, a requirement that can pose a challenge to people with disabilities, transportation issues, and daytime jobs.

In particular, the new interpretation appears to be aimed at stifling right-to-know requests from journalists. Harrison Thorp, editor and publisher of The Rochester Voice, 

…believes city officials changed how they handle his records request because they dislike his editorials and reporting on two high-profile issues: allegations that a city councilor had sexually assaulted a current councilor and a former councilor, and a nearly $300,000 land purchase.

“I was so taken aback,” Thorp said. “I have been a journalist for 40 freaking years. I have never heard of this before.”

Examples of how Nottingham town government is implementing the revised guidance New Hampshire Municipal Association can be seen in the following emails in which the town refuses to send information over the internet and insists on the records being physically obtained at Town Hall due to unspecified “security and compliance” concerns. The town is also now refusing to make electronic copies of paper documents and is instead requiring requesters to come to Town Hall to physically inspect the documents.