The Lancaster Society for Open Government is a resident-operated organization in Lancaster, Massachusetts.  Our goal is to promote free and easy public access to government records.   We advocate for easy records access, share records that are useful to the public, and assist residents by making public records on their behalf to maintain their privacy.

 

Free, confidential public records requests on your behalf:

One of our core objectives is to assist Lancaster residents in making requests for public records confidentially:  we'll do our best to make sure that only you and the society member assisting you know your identity.   We'll help you formulate your request, then send it to the town on your behalf.   If your request is denied, we'll appeal it on your behalf.   When we receive records from the town, we'll deliver them to you electronically.

 

Step 1: Send an email with your request to request@lsog.net.   Please include:

1. A description of the public records you'd like us to request from the Lancaster Town Government on your behalf.

2. Enough info for us to know who you are:  we need to establish that you're a Lancaster neighbor.
Step 2: We'll review your request, help you refine it if neccesary, and accept it.   We'll put it in our own words as possible, which aids in maintaining your confidentiality.
Step 3: We'll send the request to the Lancaster Public Records Officer from our organization account.    The town typically has 10 business days to respond to requests for Public Records
Step 4: If we receive documents in response to the request, we'll deliver them to you electronicly.  If the request is denied, we'll appeal it to the Attorney General's Office on your behalf if the denial is inappropriate.


 We'll make every effort to keep your identity confidential: your identity should be known only to you and the member assisting you.