Council to discuss email transparency after member compiles months of substantive exchanges

A South Berwick councilor raised concerns on March 10 that substantive council discussions increasingly are happening by email rather than in public meetings and asked the council to add a rules amendment to its March 24 agenda to address the practice.

The councilor said they had compiled roughly 95 pages of email correspondence in which council business was discussed since the newly seated council took office in November, and proposed two steps: a regular (bi‑weekly) submission of non‑confidential council email exchanges to the public record, and a one‑time compilation of recent substantive emails to reconcile past exchanges. The council voted to add the item to the March 24 agenda for formal discussion.

During the meeting the clerk said the town had received a public records request for council emails dating back to November and staff will work with council members to gather responsive records. Councilors discussed technical options to increase transparency, including creating a shared inbox that would capture council correspondence as public record rather than relying on individual mailboxes.

A majority of councilors supported the motion to put the item on the next agenda so members can consider specific procedural changes and how to balance transparency with confidentiality for personnel or other exempt matters.

Next steps: staff will distribute details of the FOIA request and the compiled materials to council members ahead of the March 24 discussion; the council will consider concrete rule changes at that meeting.