City Clerk Rules All Official Records Must Fit Inside One Room-Temperature Brick

The city clerk's office announced Saturday that all official records will now be considered filed only after they have been compressed into one room-temperature brick per household, ending what officials described as "an overly loose relationship between paper and permanence."

The policy applies to permits, complaints, marriage records, variance applications, committee minutes, corrected committee minutes, and any form submitted in triplicate after a resident has already left the building. Once processed, each stack will be pressed into a rectangular municipal brick, labeled, scanned, and shelved in the public archive according to address.

"A record should stay where it is put," City Clerk Orna Pell said. "Paper has a way of suggesting that the matter is still open. A brick communicates a more appropriate level of finality."

The New Filing Standard

According to the clerk's office, the brick program grew out of a space review that found the records room had become emotionally dependent on folders. Consultants recommended either expanding storage or asking the documents to consolidate themselves into a form better suited to municipal patience.

Residents will receive a receipt showing the color, weight, and shelf position of their household brick. Requests to inspect a record may still be made during business hours, though clerks warned that reading a brick requires a different pace.

"The information is present," Pell said. "It is simply no longer fluttering around."

Public Access

The office has installed two brick-viewing tables and a padded reference mallet for residents with approved research appointments. Staff members said most visitors have adjusted quickly, especially those accustomed to public processes that already felt dense.

Some advocacy groups questioned whether the format could discourage transparency. The clerk responded that each brick remains fully available, provided the requester can identify the brick, lift the brick, and accept that the brick may not choose to elaborate.

Appeals Process

Appeals must be submitted as half-bricks by Thursday. The clerk's office said forms that arrive as ordinary paper will be accepted temporarily, then placed in a small room until they understand what is expected of them.