AUGUSTA – A freshman legislator hopes to clarify whether e-mail addresses on file at municipal offices and other public institutions are confidential under Maine’s Freedom of Access law.

“I hope we can at least get it referred to committee and go from there” despite the lateness of the current legislative session, Rep. Earl Bierman, R-Sorrento, said Thursday.

Lamoine Town Administrator Stu Marckoon, who last week denied a resident’s written request for a list of all e-mail addresses in the town’s computer system, contacted Bierman about the possibility of pursuing a legal clarification.

Marckoon said town officials believe the statewide issue should be decided either by a court or the Legislature.

“We think that’s where it ought to be clarified,” Marckoon said. “Certainly my little town is not going to set statewide policy. I hope.

“This is going to become an issue in other towns, I suspect. The proper forum for this would be on a statewide level, not local.”

Under the existing FOA law, Marckoon had five business days to provide the information or reject the request. Last Friday, Marckoon notified Robert Sharkey, a town resident who asked for a list of all e-mail addresses on file in the town’s computer system, that the request was being denied because it was too broad.

Sharkey has not filed a complaint in Superior Court, the next step in resolving disputes over public information requests. Attempts to reach Sharkey were unsuccessful this week, but Marckoon said the town had not been served with a complaint as of Thursday.

Bierman said he thinks lawmakers should be careful if they agree to exempt e-mail addresses from the FOA law, so that other kinds of information are not shielded from the public.

“It’s unfortunate that this is such uncharted water,” he said. A legal exemption “has to be incredibly well-defined because we could do more harm than good. And it’s going to take a lot of work to get it to that point.”

Bierman can either submit emergency legislation to the Legislative Council, which decides whether a bill can be introduced after the filing deadline, or he can seek a joint resolution whereby the House and Senate agree the bill can be considered.

Considering he’s in the minority party, he suspects he may seek a resolution at least to get the issue assigned to a legislative committee for debate.

“I guess that’s all I can do at this point,” he said.

Marckoon and Lamoine selectmen believe the law does not expressly identify e-mail addresses as public information, and neither does it exempt them. They hope Bierman and other legislators will take up the question and clarify the law as the popularity of e-mail continues to grow.

Until then, they’ll sit tight and keep the e-mail addresses in the town computer system.

“People consider their e-mail address private property,” Marckoon said. “We’re going to the mat for our citizens. If we lose [any future lawsuit], obviously we’ll comply with any court order.”

Marckoon said town officials think e-mail addresses are different from mailing addresses, which have never been disputed as public records. The difference, he said, is people who want to destroy someone’s computer with a virus or fill e-mail boxes with junk mail can easily do that once they have a person’s e-mail address.

No such damage can be done by giving residents’ mailing addresses to a requester, he said.

Marckoon stressed he was not implying that Sharkey would create trouble for computer users, but rather that it would be possible to do so.

Michael Starn, spokesman for the Maine Municipal Association, said the issue has surfaced in Lamoine because it provides a special service to residents that most other towns do not – at least not yet.

Lamoine residents can provide the town with their e-mail addresses and get regular town notices, including reminders that tax bills are due, dog licenses need to be reviewed or selectmen will meet.

Starn conceded Thursday, however, that the rapid growth of technology could create other public policy issues and concerns.

“It’s one of those things we didn’t have to think about 10 years ago because it did not exist,” Starn said.

He said if Bierman gets legislation introduced, the MMA’s Legislative Policy Committee would take it up and decide how to proceed.

“In some ways there’s an irony here,” he said. “People want government information to be open, but they want to retain some privacy.”

Marckoon said he and selectmen fully agree that any e-mail messages sent to the town office or received by it are public records. It’s the e-mail addresses themselves that they seek to protect.