Peabody councilors seek to modernize applications

PEABODY-City Councilors voted Thursday to look into a request by the Legal Affairs Subcommittee to change the face of decades old licenses and applications.?It dates back to the 70s,” Subcommittee Chair Jim Liacos reported to the Council.Liacos said he would like to see entertainment license applications updated with a modern look. For instance, removing the electronic phonograph option and replacing it with karaoke.In addition to making forms more compatible with today?s entertainment industry, Councilor Anne Manning said she would like to make general license applications more gender-friendly.?The form is so old that the application addressed (council members) as ?gentlemen,?” said Manning.Manning also had concerns over certain items of information being available to the public.?My issue was that there was a lot of sensitive identity information on (the forms), which is required for (Police) Lt. Marty Cohan to do his preliminary research and investigations, but not necessary to be disclosed to Council. We don?t need it.”As license applications are public records, anyone can have rightful access to them, and in turn, access the applicant?s Social Security number, among other bits of personal information.Manning said that although she hasn?t heard of any identity theft problems involving public records, she would like to see the changes made as a preventive measure.The Council voted to place both items on the agenda for the next meeting, at which time they will vote to accept or reject the changes.