>>while you may disagre with the conclusion reached it is an official
decision rendered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued by "Alan
N. Cote, Supervisor of Records<<

Understood.  However, opinions can be questioned and reconsideration
requested.

Rich's comments are also understood.  Open records statutes are very
clear, the recordings belong the government unit.  However, application
of the statute is not nearly as clear in this particular instance.  I
expect nearly all of the statutes were written with the belief that the
recordings were being made by the government unit, not by a contracted
third party.  

So the question remains.  If the recordings are made by a contracted
third party and the contract executed by the entity only specifies that
the official minutes be provided, who actually owns the recordings.  If
ownership is not specifically claimed in the contract, I don't believe
they are property of the state, nor is there any obligation to retain
them where the public can access them.

Granted, terms of the contract may require the third party retain them
until the "official" minutes are approved, but that is an entirely
different issue. Government entities commonly require other parties to
retain documents.  That requirement does not imply that the requiring
government party "owns" the records.  If they did, the payroll records
of every firm would be considered federal records belonging to the IRS
and DOL.

Bill R
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