Accessing Public Records
As part of the Vermont Community Broadband Board's (VCBB) commitment to openness and transparency, we have implemented the following public records policy. If you have questions regarding this policy, please review the information provided on this page and the enclosed links.
To Submit a Public Records Act Request
Please email Toni Clithero, General Counsel, toni.clithero@vermont.gov. Please provide your full contact information and describe the records you are requesting with as much specificity as possible, including applicable date ranges.
Public Records by Statute
The Vermont General Assembly has established guidelines to facilitate access to public records requests.
“It is the policy of this sub-chapter to provide for free and open examination of records consistent with Chapter I, Article 6 of the Vermont Constitution. Officers of government are trustees and servants of the people and it is in the public interest to enable any person to review and criticize their decisions even though such examination may cause inconvenience or embarrassment. All people, however, have a right to privacy in their personal and economic pursuits, which ought to be protected unless specific information is needed to review the action of a governmental officer. Consistent with these principles, the general assembly hereby declares that certain public records shall be made available to any person as hereinafter provided. To that end, the provisions of this sub-chapter shall be liberally construed to implement this policy, and the burden of proof shall be on the public agency to sustain its action.” 1 V.S.A. § 315
The procedures for requesting public documents are set out in the State Access to Public Records Law at 1 V.S.A. § 316. The following sub-sections outline additional considerations of the law:
§ 317. Definitions; public agency; public records and documents
§ 317a. Disposition of public records
§ 318. Procedure
§ 319. Enforcement
§ 320. Penalties
Records Exempt from Disclosure 1 V.S.A. § 317(c).
Uniform Schedule of Public Record Charges for State Agencies 1 V.S.A. § 316(d)
All Public Records Requests should be made in writing via the following form.
Note: All records requests received via other means will be entered into this form verbatim.
Uniform Schedule of Public Records Charges for State Agencies
The following fees have been established as the actual cost of providing a copy of a public record. Note that there are fees for copies of public records that are established by statute that may override the fees established by this schedule.
- For staff time involved in physically duplicating a record, $.33 per minute after the first 30 minutes.
- For senior-level staff time, and information technology specialists’ time spent extracting data from databases or performing similar tasks necessary to comply with a request to create a new public record, $.57 per minute.
- For any other staff time for which cost can be charged and collected under this section, $.45 per minute.
- For photocopies, $.05 per single-sided page, $.09 per double-sided page for pages up to 8.5 by 14 inches.
- For color photocopies, $1.00 per single-sided page.
- For computer-generated paper copies, $.02 per page for pages up to 8.5 by 14 inches.
- For computer diskettes, $.28 each for 3.5-inch diskettes.
- For compact discs, $.86 each for write-once CD w/case, $2.31 each for re-writable CD w/case.
- For audio tapes, $.81 each.
- For video tapes, $1.69 each.
- For DVDs, $2.00 each for write-once DVD w/case, $4.00 each for re-writable DVD w/case.