Access to Town of Chapel Hill e-mails

From: Terry MAGUIRE [mailto:tmaguire@newspaper.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 1:39 PM
To: lsorg@indyweek.com
Cc: Catherine Lazorko
Subject: FW: Update on Ephesus Fordham

FYI

From: Terry MAGUIRE [mailto:tmaguire@newspaper.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 1:38 PM
To: 'Catherine Lazorko'
Cc: MSCHULTZ@NEWSOBSERVER.COM; efriend@wchl.com
Subject: RE: Update on Ephesus Fordham

Dear Catherine,

The public is entitled to see all correspondence and communication involving the Mayor and the Town Council Members that involves the conduct of Town business, that is not fall within a statutory exemption. (If you have not been following the case of former Secretary of State CLINTON, I urge you to catch up on that.)

What appears to be happening in Chapel Hill is that few e-mails sent by the the Town Council Members (I do not know if the Mayor uses a private e-mail account for any Town business) are being captured by the Town and maintained in a publicly-accessible manner. Instead, these individuals are conducting Town business through private e-mail accounts with no public record maintained of what they write.

If one searches in your archive using the From field, it is really hard to believe that we are seeing all of the e-mail sent by these individuals in the course of conducting Town business.

Further, it is really hard to believe that there have been only a dozen e-mails in your archive showing that they were sent to anyone named PERRY, just by way of example.

Has the Council ever discussed the practice of allowing members to use private e-mail accounts to conduct Town business?

Has any outside entity ever done an audit of the e-mail archive to see if it is doing what your words on this page http://www.townofchapelhill.org/town-hall/government/mayor-council  say it is:

“An archive of council email is available, with content from January 1, 2011.”

Cheers,

Terry

From: Catherine Lazorko [mailto:clazorko@townofchapelhill.org]
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 1:19 PM
To: Terry MAGUIRE
Subject: RE: Update on Ephesus Fordham

Terry, This email is not in the Town database. It is from Council Member Storrow’s gmail account. Forgive me, as it sounds like I am stating the obvious, and want to understand your interest. --Catherine

Catherine Lazorko Communications Manager Communications and Public Affairs Town of Chapel Hill 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Chapel Hill, NC 27514-5705 Phone: (919) 969-5055 Cell: (919) 265-7516 Twitter: @chapelhillgov Participate! townofchapelhill.org/participate

From: Terry MAGUIRE [mailto:tmaguire@newspaper.com]
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2015 5:25 PM
To: Catherine Lazorko
Subject: FW: Update on Ephesus Fordham

Dear Catherine,

I see your response, but I am interested in knowing where to find the e-mails that Council Members and the Mayor have sent that relate in any way to Town business, whether in response to something sent to the mayor and council address or not.

So where would I find this e-mail, for example, in your database?

Thanks,

Terry

From: Lee Storrow [mailto:leestorrow.ch@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2015 9:42 PM
To: Lee Storrow
Subject: Update on Ephesus Fordham

Friends and Neighbors, 

Thank you for writing to the council in the past about Ephesus-Fordham Renewal. I wanted to make sure you knew that the council will be discussing a progress report of the district at our upcoming meeting on Monday, January 26th. We'll be hearing about the three developments that have either been approved or proposed for the district, progress toward the continuing action the council voted on last year, and updates on a potential pedestrian bridge and flooding mitigation. Staff is also proposing that we call a public hearing in April to discuss potential amendments to the form based code. 

I know a number of community members have feedback and thoughts about the district, and I hope you'll share those with the council in advance of the meeting via e-mail (mayorandcouncil@townofchapelhill.org) or by attending Monday's meeting. Below is a link to this agenda item for Monday's meeting. 

http://chapelhillpublic.novusagenda.com/Bluesheet.aspx?itemid=3053&meetingid=324

As always, thanks for sharing your thoughts and feedback, and let me know if I can be of service in the future! 

Best, Lee 

Lee Storrow
Town Council Member
405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
919-914-0311