Chatham Launches New Public Records Portal

CHATHAM – Most government agencies say they strive for transparency. Often, however, the realities of staffing and time means that some functions designed to make government more accessible, such as public records requests, fall short.

The town has launched a new portal to improve its response to public records requests and give residents a clearer picture of the status of requests.

On the NextRequest Public Records Portal, users can file public records requests and related documents as well as track their requests and others. It can be reached through the town’s website, www.chatham-ma.gov.

It’s difficult to determine how many public records requests the town received under the previous decentralized system, said Town Manager Jill Goldsmith. Under state law, public records requests must be filed with the “custodian” of the record, which is usually a specific town department. Those departments are then responsible for tracking and fulfilling the request, as well as trying to determine if other departments may have records that meet the request. That often depended on the person filing the request knowing the correct person or department to contact, she said.

Under the new system, public records requests are centralized, and individuals filing requests do not need to know where to send it, Goldsmith said. Staff can review requests filed through the portal and assign it to the correct department. 

“The system creates a timeline for each request to ensure they are fulfilled in compliance with Massachusetts Public Records Law,” Goldsmith wrote in an email. “All responses to requests become available to the public for review once they are completed, eliminating the need for staff to respond to multiple requests for the same document and providing instant access to those documents of high public interest.”

The NextRequest portal is operated by CivicPlus, a provider of local government software that the town uses on its website, so it integrates into the existing platform, Goldsmith said. Funding came from a federal American Rescue Plan Act grant meant to improve access to municipal operations and service delivery, she added. 

 “Making government more accessible and transparent is a priority for our team,” Goldsmith said. “This new system helps remove barriers for the public seeking information while also allowing staff to more efficiently manage and fulfill public records requests.”