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looking for security "horror stories" for vital records



A NH town clerk has come to me for some help with a somewhat unique problem
-- in my experience, at least.  Her office has moved to smaller quarters and
her former records storage area is now "shared space" over which she has no
control.  Other department personnel now have access to the Clerk's
confidential records and other records requiring permanent retention.

What I find unique about her problem is that the Town Selectmen have refused
to lock the entire storage area, as she had requested, and have also refused
to build a caged area within this records space so that she could at least
"lock up" and gain some security and control over her own records.  The
records she is most concerned about are birth, death, marriage and adoption
records which are confidential under state law (i.e., all adoption records,
births after 1900, deaths and marriages after 1937).  She also does not like
the idea that town personnel can pull minutes and contracts out of the
storage area without her knowledge of who did so, when, and where they are
at any given time.

State law designates the Town Clerk as the community's recordkeeper and
provides that the Selectmen may provide alternatives for the safekeeping of
records when the Clerk does not have the space or means to do so herself.
In this case, the Selectmen are refusing to provide the minimum security
measures she is asking for.

So far, her communications with the Selectmen have been by correspondence or
voice.  She doesn't want to become overly-confrontational, but she is firm
about pressing forward to obtain more security for her records.

My suggestion thus far is to go before the Board of Selectmen with a
statement of need and a number of solutions to resolve her concerns.  This
would place her concerns in the permanent, public record (minutes) and at
least raise the specter of "shared liability."  I have also recommended that
she consider proposing a records security policy to the Selectmen, and take
an immediate inventory of her records that are in shared storage space, as
this has not been done.  This may not solve her problem, but at least it
puts the issue in a public forum that will require some formal action by the
Board.

Any other ideas?

We are also looking for:

1) "Horror stories" where vital records or records requiring permanent
retention have been damaged or disappeared due to poor security.  (e.g.,
internet auctions, signature of famous people cut out of Court documents by
signature hunters, damage due to sloppy access, etc.).
2) Security standards -- and the rationale for those standards -- which
could be downloaded and used to develop a sample policy for the Selectmen's
consideration.

Any feedback would be welcomed!  Thank you.

Paul R. Bergeron
City Clerk
229 Main Street
Nashua, NH 03060
Telephone: 603/589-3010
Fax: 603/589-3029
http://www.gonashua.com/

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