Gray may have to go to court to get private emails, texts
Harrison Thorp 7:50 a.m.
MILTON - A letter from the Town of Milton to Selectmen Chair Tom Gray regarding his five Right to Know requests targeting fellow selectmen indicates he may have to petition Strafford County Superior Court, or his colleagues, themselves, if he wants to pursue reviewing private emails and phone calls they may or may not have had with each other. The letter sent by Town Administrator Heather Thibodeau after a review by Town Counsel details Gray's five RTK requests and the possible remedies he may pursue given the town's lack of documentation regarding the requested material. Since two selectmen constitute a quorum and official meeting, generally any time they communicate is subject to the generation of minutes and open to public scrutiny. Much of Gray's requests center around the capturing of emails, text messages and phone calls between Selectmen Mike Beaulieu and Andrew Rawson, but since selectmen don't use town phones, the town is powerless to order a review of their contents. Gray's two other requests concerned a closed-door meeting between Beaulieu and office staff for which no minutes were kept and a meeting alleged by Gray where Rawson and Beaulieu decided to put on hold the hiring of a bookkeeper till after Gray leaves office later this month. Gray chided Beaulieu at Monday's meeting for telling town employees he would be the new boss when Gray leaves office, a charge Beaulieu did not refute. While selectmen's emails made on personal computers and cellphones are not public domain, any sent on computers at Town Hall are, so a private firm has been hired to scour those computers for any pertinent email strings, the letter states. That forensic computer is expected to take about 15 days. Gray's request and the town's official response on each item are as follows:
Rawson and Beaulieu had not responded to Gray's RTK requests as of Thursday, Thibodeau said.
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