I am using the first definition of "public record" from the Law.com website. "public record: n. any information, minutes, files, accounts or other records which a governmental body is required to maintain and which must be accessible to scrutiny by the public. This includes the files of most legal actions. A court will take "judicial notice" of a public record (including hearsay in the record) introduced as evidence. For example: a recorded deed to show transfer of title or a criminal judgment are both public records."
     I have been using the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of public.  "Public: (a) Exposed to General View: Open (b): Well Known, Prominent (c): Perceptible, Material".  Perhaps I should be using the Compact Oxford English: "Public: Of, concerning, or available to the people as a whole."   Or Perhaps I should be using the Cambridge Dictionary Definition: "Public (By the Government): Involving or provided by the Government, usually for the use of anyone."  In fact, the opening definition of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) opens their introduction as "Public Records are open to inspection by any person."
     This is not simply an opinion.  This is a function of language that was used in drafting the law.  If the drafters of the law wanted the records to only be available to the members of the immediate community, they should have called them "Community Records."  The fact that they called them "Public Records" means that they were meant not only for the review of members of the community, but also for the review of members outside the communtiy in the interest of open and transparent government.

Charles W. Skinner
National Vendor Management
Consumer Marketing Services