Editorial: It should be easier to find town records

The bad news is the town could do much better.

Those are the conclusion to be drawn from a recent Common Cause report about Internet access to public records. The watchdog group reviewed records for all 351 cities and towns in the state in March, and then again in September. It found that only 40 municipalities — or about 11 percent — have all key records posted online, up from 24 communities in March.

The key government documents reviewed include the community governing body’s agenda, the governing body’s minutes, fiscal 2006 budget information and the municipality’s bylaws, code or ordinances.

Watertown did pretty well, coming up short only because Common Cause couldn’t find the town ordinances online. In all other categories, Watertown posted the information.

But on closer look, the town needs to update the information in a more timely way. For instance, the most recent Town Council minutes posted are from all the way back in July.

Common Cause’s effort, dubbed the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government aims, over the next year, to triple the number of cities and towns that post key government records on their Web sites.

“The foundation of our democracy is built on public access to information about our government,” said Karla de Steuben, a Common Cause board member and founder of the project. “The easier it is to obtain key information, the more likely it is that people will have the tools necessary to effectively participate in government — and hold our elected leaders accountable.”

The 40 municipalities that have posted all of the targeted records on line range in size from Becket, with a population of 1,786, to Boston, with a population of 569,165. A list of these communities, plus a list of all municipalities in Massachusetts with their posting information, is available at maopengov.org.