Secretary of State Jim Condos is backing an effort to give Vermonters easier access to public records.
Currently, when a state or local agency , it takes a court appeal to overturn the decision.
But Condos wants lawmakers to create a new office, known as the state ombudsman, to consider appeals. He said it's a less burdensome way for people to pursue a public records request.
"It would offer [an] intermediary appeal point for citizens of the state of Vermont when they're denied access to public records or if there's an open meeting violation 鈥� or they believe an open meeting violation 鈥� to get some kind of an opinion on it,鈥� said Condos.
And Condos said he'd also like lawmakers to allocate more resources to beef up the investigative functions of the .
