A media request for information to the Town of Ballston led its supervisor to discover her personnel file to be missing from the town’s records Southworth said a Freedom of Information Law request submitted by The Spotlight for hours she reported working to the state Comptroller’s Office led to her discovery that her personnel file was missing. “The deputy clerk was looking for the standard workday folder …and couldn’t locate it, so I thought maybe that it was put in with my personnel files. So, I went to look for my personnel file,” Southworth said. “I went back in over the weekend to look for it, thinking it was just misfiled, but it wasn’t present.” The supervisor contacted the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office and an investigator responded to Town Hall to take a report. When The Spotlight requested a copy of that police incident report from the county under the state Freedom of Information Law, the request was denied. Chris Sansom, legislative clerk for the county Board of Supervisors, said, “The case is still under investigation and therefore cannot be released.” The Spotlight has appealed the decision. A call for comment to Sheriff James Bowen was not immediately returned. Southworth said the last she knows her personnel file was present was Nov. 17, 2011. According to Ballston Deputy Town Clerk Carrie Fisher, personnel files are kept in the supervisor’s office, while the standard workday forms originally requested by The Spotlight are kept by the town clerk. Fisher declined to comment on who has access to such files, referring inquiries to Town Clerk Carol Shemo, who is on vacation. Southworth said the personnel files are kept in an office labeled “Assistant to the Bookkeeper” in a cabinet during working business hours, and that the records are not under lock and key because “we’re working in that office.” Southworth for a time assumed the duties of the bookkeeper when she terminated Joann Bouchard in November 2011. Southworth said she knows the file was present after that termination, however. Bouchard has since filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the town, and it still remains unclear why Southworth fired her in the first place. The town filled the position this summer. The supervisor said her discovery was made Sunday, Aug. 5, when she was alone at Town Hall.
“I went through each file myself to make sure it wasn’t there or underneath anything. Nobody else has authority to have access to that information…nobody else assisted,” she said. She contacted the Sheriff’s Office Monday morning. Southworth insinuated this is not the first time records have gone missing from Town Hall. She declined to elaborate further. Fisher said that when a FOIL request comes into the clerk’s office, it is either fulfilled there or then passed on to the appropriate party (for example, if the request concerns building permits it is forwarded to the Building Department). The Spotlight originally requested records after Councilman William Goslin questioned the number of hours Southworth reported working to the state for retirement benefits purposes. He later withdrew his public challenge. Southworth said she is assured that all other files kept at Town Hall are present and secure.
“I don’t want an employee to think their information is at risk,” she said.
Update
On Wednesday, Aug. 15, Shemo said the workday forms are in heroffice under lock and key, however they are made available to the public afterthey are adopted by the town following each election cycle. “The standard workday forms are posted here and on the TownBoard’s webpage for everyone to see,” Shemo said, adding that the forms inquestion were first posted in early July. However, when she and Fisher attempted to open the webpage’slink to the form on Wednesday morning, it did not work. The Spotlight was alsounable to access it via the link, which leads to “Proposed Local Law No. of2012, town of Ballston Solar Collection Code” – a six-page document outliningthat law.