News & Press Coverage

New Vineyard chairwoman admits town violated open records law

CentralMaine.com
July 7, 2015

Sig Schutz is quoted in this article regarding the town of New Vineyard's failure to keep minutes of all Board of Selectmen meetings, which is in violation of Maine open records law.

Excerpt:

Towns that don’t comply with public access laws are also more liable to have lawsuits brought against them, according to Sigmund Schutz, a Portland attorney for the Morning Sentinel who specializes in public access law.

But most of the time it’s up to individual people to bring those violations to the attention of the state or the court system.

“It’s very unusual for any agency of the state to pursue violations of the public meetings statute,” Schutz said. “My perception is it’s a low enforcement priority for the state, for district attorneys’ offices.”