East Bay

Secretary of State Matt Brown will introduce the idea at a public meeting in Newport tomorrow.

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, June 1, 2004

NEWPORT -- Wouldn't it be great if notices for every zoning board, school committee and town council meeting in the state were posted on the Internet?

Secretary of State Matt Brown thinks so.

Brown is proposing to enhance the Secretary of State's Web site by creating online listings for all state and local government notices and agendas. It would be called the Electronic Town Crier.

"The Electronic Town Crier will make Rhode Island a national model for getting information to citizens so they know what their government is doing," Brown said in a statement. "Instead of forcing people to travel to libraries and city halls to find meeting notices, we'll put that information online.

"Making this information available electronically will make it easier than ever for people to participate in decision-making and hold their elected officials accountable."

Brown is holding six meetings around the state to gather public comment on the rules and regulations that would govern the Electronic Town Crier. One of the forums will be held in Newport tomorrow at 3 p.m. in the council chambers of City Hall. The only other East Bay meeting will be in Warren, on June 8, at 3 p.m., at Town Hall.

Last year, the General Assembly passed legislation, effective July 17, requiring all public bodies to file meeting notices with the secretary of state and all state agencies to file meeting minutes. Brown, who requested the legislation, intends to use the information to establish a searchable database on his office's Web site (www.state.ri.us).

The proposed rules and regulations for the Electronic Town Crier are available for review at www.state.ri.us/cpi. For more information, call (401) 222-3983/TTY 711, or send e-mail to publicinfoAT