The Preble NY Town Board ~ Stupid is as stupid does...

The Saga of the Five Dollar Minute.

Stupid is as stupid does...

1/3/2001

So said Forrest Gump in the movie by the same name. In our little story, we are talking about the Preble, N.Y. Town Board. (surprise surprise) No, I'm not saying the Town Board is stupid... But perhaps you should judge for yourself.

I have been putting the minutes of the Town Board meetings here on the PrebleNY.com website. These minutes are public information and there is no reason they should not be here. In the beginning I got them on paper, usually a page or two. The charge was ten cents a page for copying. I asked to have them on disk*, which saves time for the town clerk and doesn't cost the town anything. She has to be there anyway to serve the public. The computer is on and running. Copying a file takes just a moment and if I bring my own disk, it costs the town nothing, nada, not one red cent! In addition, the information is read by a large number of people, which encourages participation from the people. Many towns in this country have their own website and put the minutes up at the towns cost. I do this at my expense, in my own time, which benefits the town and all the people.

However, apparently our town board doesn't see it that way. Perhaps they don't want you to see the minutes. Perhaps they would rather do things without the participation of the citizens. I know they don't want me to have the minutes on disk because of what happened today...

I called Jane, the town clerk, to make sure she would be there when I came by to get the minutes. She advised me that there is now a charge for this service. IF I bring my own disk, the charge is FIVE DOLLARS to copy the minutes. She said she was 'told' that this is the new policy. I went down and helped Jane copy the files to my disk. I didn't charge the town for my services. The whole process took 5 minutes. I paid the FIVE DOLLARS, thanked her and left. This is 100% profit to the town. If I had asked for paper copies of the town minutes, she would have printed them out from her computer at ten cents per page! It would have taken an hour or more to print FIVE DOLLARS worth of minutes, cost the town money for paper and ink. Plus an hours worth of her time!

Some questions need to be asked...

Why is the town trying to keep this information to itself?

What is the justification for this exorbitant FIVE DOLLAR charge?

Is this FIVE DOLLAR charge legal?

Does this FIVE DOLLAR charge make the Preble Town Board look stupid?

Does this FIVE DOLLAR charge make the Preble Town Board look childish?

Does this FIVE DOLLAR charge make the Preble Town Board look petty?

Does this FIVE DOLLAR charge make the Preble Town Board look small?

Stupid is as stupid does… Well, have you decided?